They desecrated 80 graves in a Jewish cemetery in France

"About 80 graves"of a Jewish cemetery in the city of Quatzenheim, in the east of France, They were found profaned on Tuesday, announced the local authorities, who sentenced a "anti-Semitic act hateful"

"This Tuesday, February 19, some 80 graves of an Israeli cemetery in Quatzenheim were discovered profaned."The Bas-Rhin prefecture said in a statement.The prosecutor's office in Strasbourg announced the opening of an investigation to find the culprits.

The tombs were painted Nazi blue and yellow swastikas. It was also found written in a grave "Esbadisches Schwarzen Wolfe" ("The black Alsatian wolves"), a possible reference to an active Alsatian autonomist group in the 1970s.

The prefect of Bas-Rhin, Jean-Luc Marx, quoted in a statement, sentenced "with utmost firmness this odious anti-Semitic act and expressed its full support to the Jewish community which was again attacked"

"Anti-Semitism undermines the values ​​of the Republic shared by all French people. No violence, hatred or intolerance should endanger coexistence"he added.

The desecrated graves were found on the same day that demonstrations were held throughout France to denounce the resurgence of anti-Semitic acts in the country after a wave of vandalism and insults against Jews. .

The prosecutor's office in Paris has opened a preliminary investigation into the anti-Semitic insults of which the author and philosopher was the victim Alain Finkielkraut during an anti-government demonstration against the "yellow vests" this weekend.

The essayist was treated, among other things, as a "Zionist shit" by angry protesters who met him by chance in a street in the heart of Paris.

President Emmanuel Macron he condemned the "antisemitic insults"to whom Finkielkraut was subjected, who said that they are"the absolute denial of who we are and what makes us a great nation"."We will not tolerate it", a point.

A few days before a swastika on a portrait in Paris of the former minister who died Simone Veil, survivor of a Nazi extermination camp during the Second World War, and two trees planted in memory of a young Jewish man killed in 2006 were found destroyed.

According to figures released last week by the Ministry of the Interior, the number of antisemitic acts climbed 74% in France in 2018.

In total, there were 541 antisemitic acts in France last year, compared with 311 in 2017.

Macron will not participate in the marches, but his prime minister, Edouard PhilippeYes, he will be present alongside several members of the government in a congregation in Paris at 19:00 (18:00 GMT) in the central square of the Republic.

(With information from AFP)