Vandals Desecrate 90 Jewish Graves in East France Ahead of Marches

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - Vandals have daubed swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans on around 90 graves in a Jewish cemetery in eastern France, local officials said on Tuesday, shortly before planned marches nationwide against a rise in anti-Semitic attacks. 

French President Emmanuel Macron visited the cemetery on Tuesday in the village of Quatzenheim, near the city of Strasbourg, following the overnight desecration, walking through a gate daubed with a swastika as he entered the graveyard. 

“It’s important for me to be here with you today,” a solemn looking Macron told local leaders and members of the Jewish community after paying respects at one of the desecrated graves. 

Many French political leaders, though not Macron himself, are due to join Tuesday evening’s march in Paris against anti-Semitism, which remains a scourge in France.