On Christmas Eve, right wing vandals painted antisemitic graffiti on the front of the house of the local president of LICRA, an old organization in France that fights racism and antisemitism. The press release from LICRA today included these words: ”The president of LICRA Strasbourg, Philémon Lequeux, was again the target of antisemites in his residence during the night of Friday to Saturday, as has happened once before at the end of November and as happened in the past to his predecessor Raphaël Nisand.” Television station France 3 reported on their website today that the graffiti included the symbol “d’une croix entourée d’un cercle, le symbole du GUD”. The cross in a circle is the logo of the Union Defense Group, an extreme right wing racist group.
These attacks are not limited to the LICRA presidents. Earlier this year Jewish and Muslim cemeteries were vandalized in separate events. The national president of LICRA, Alain Jakubowicz, has demanded that the activity of these extreme right wing groups must be stopped immediately. ”Their activity has been tolerated in this region for too long.”
Both the major parties, the PS (parti socialiste) and the ruling UMP (union for a popular movement) strongly denounced the vandalism. But it remains to be seen if anything will be done.
