Macron described as "unworthy" those who desecrated graves in a Jewish cemetery and promised "punishments"

French President Emmanuel Macron vigorously repudiated the desecration of 80 Jewish graves in a cemetery in eastern France. The president promised "actions" and "laws" during a visit to the city of Quatzenheim, place of the anti-Semitic attack.

"We will take measures, adopt laws and punish those responsible," said the head of state, who spoke with appalled residents of this small border town with Germany, claiming a neo-Nazi group called "Alsatian Wolves". they painted swastikas on the graves.

"Those who did this are not worthy of the Republic and will be punishedMacron insisted.

Macron, who was accompanied by the chief rabbi of France Haim Korsia and who wore a yarmulke, gathered in front of the tombs that were painted with Nazi swastikas.

The act caused a strong repudiation and Thousands of people mobilized against anti-Semitism with several concentrations across the country.

With More than 500,000 people, the French Jewish community is the the biggest in Europeand the largest in the world after the United States and Israel.

According to the Government, there was a 74% annual increase in antisemitic attacks in France in 2018, totaling 541, compared to 311 in 2017.

In Paris, some 10,000 people gathered in the central square of the Republic and carried banners with messages such as "No to hate" or "It's enough!".

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe attended the rally, along with other members of the government, to "denounce the unacceptable" and promised that "measures" would be taken to punish those responsible for these acts.

In total, marches took place in some 70 cities.

Several outstanding personalities were present at the Paris march, including former presidents François Hollande (2012-2017) and Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012). "Anti-Semitism does not concern the Jews, it concerns all the French"said Holland.

"Enough swastikas, insults," said Republican conservative party leader Laurent Wauquiez, who called for "actions" to be taken to punish these acts.

The president, Emmanuel Macron, preferred to go with his wife Brigitte to the Holocaust memorial, where he laid a wreath of white flowers. The couple was accompanied by the presidents of the two chambers of Parliament, Gérard Larcher and Richard Ferrand.

A few days ago, the Paris prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation into the anti-Semitic insults of writer and philosopher Alain Finkielkraut during an anti-government demonstration of "yellow vests" this weekend.

The essayist was treated, among others, as a "Zionist shit" by some protesters who met him in a street in the heart of Paris.

A few days earlier, swastikas had been painted on a portrait of the late ex-minister, Simone Veil, survivor of a Nazi extermination camp during the Second World War, in the French capital. two trees which had been planted in a Paris suburb in memory of Ilan Halimi, a young Jew tortured and killed during an anti-Semitic attack in 2006, which had been found crushed.

But France is not the only country facing this problem. Germany also recorded a sharp increase in anti-Semitic acts in 2018, with 1,646 registered, its highest level in nearly ten years..

Emmanuel Macron will present his project against anti-Semitism during a speech at the annual dinner of the badociation CRIF, which brings together Wednesday French Jewish groups. In particular, anti-Semitism and anti-racism laws are expected on social networks.