SW News: In France, which has been witnessing a spurt in attacks targeting Catholic churches and shrines in recent years, yet another church was vandalized by a gang. French authorities said that a gang of minors went on to inflict damage on a church in Cugnaux near Toulouse in the south. It was the Saint Laurent de Cugnaux Church that was targeted in an arson attack.

Authorities said the flames could be brought under control, but the damage inflicted is enormous. Cugnaux Mayor Albert Sanchez said that apart from the damage caused by the fire, candles were knocked down and a crucifix was damaged apart from sacred paintings. The mayor condemned the violence against a particular religious community and expressed closeness with the Catholics.

This is not the only act of violence against a Catholic church this month. Earlier, a church in Lieusaint near the capital Paris was desecrated by vandals. They scribbled profanities on the wall, including inscriptions in Arabic and a Star of David among other things.

Soon after the vandalism was discovered, Mayor Michel Bisson said it was “inadmissible, unacceptable and a reprehensible gesture.” After it was revealed that the inscriptions also had the sentence “Long Live Islam” on the wall, the local mosque of Lieusaint condemned the desecration of the church expressing skepticism that Muslims could be behind the scribblings.

It was not the sole attack on the church in Lieusaint. There was an earlier attack in which several statues were desecrated and toppled. However, the police are clueless about the miscreants.

Since 2021, France has been witnessing an uptick in violence against churches and shrines. That year itself there were more than 1600 cases of violence against churches. This prompted the government to appoint deputies Isabelle Florennes and Ludovic Mendes to tackle the problem and find a solution. The duo suggested integrating teachings about religions in the school curricula to dispel misunderstanding. Another suggestion was the appointing of security by each religious confession around their places of worship.