Police probe war graves vandalism

Police in northern France were today continuing to investigate after vandals damaged the graves of First World War soldiers.

The broken gravestones of 45 British, Canadian and New Zealand soldiers were discovered by a farmer at the St Aubert cemetery near Cambrai on Monday.

Authorities believe the culprits kicked over the stones - suggesting a simple act of vandalism without clear motive.

Today the mayor of St Aubert, Jacques Parent, said he was "outraged" by the vandalism which has "deeply upset" the residents of his village.

"This was the work of idiots, smashing things up for the sake of it," he said.
"I don't think it was racially motivated. They just wanted to break some gravestones without realising the gravity of their actions or thinking of the young men lying underneath."

As workers began to repair the gravestones, Mr. Parent described the shock of local villagers.

"The people here don't understand why this has happened. This is a calm place - we never imagined something like this."

"Cemeteries like this are sacred. The fact that soldiers from Britain, Canada and New Zealand died on our land touched the villagers very closely and they are deeply upset."

Marie Masdupuy, a French foreign ministry spokeswoman, expressed her nation's regret over the incident.

She said: "This constitutes an attack on the memory of all the Commonwealth soldiers who died for the freedom of our country."

The St Aubert cemetery contains the graves of 435 Commonwealth soldiers killed in battle between 1917 and 1918.

In April, the graves of British soldiers in the Etaples cemetery in northern France were defaced with swastikas and slogans denouncing the war in Iraq, prompting President Jacques Chirac to send a letter of apology to the UK.

All military cemeteries in France are open to the public.