Muslim gravestones vandalized in WWI cemetery in northern France

Fifty-two gravestones were vandalized in the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette cemetery near Lens, regional police said. The vandals likely acted overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, police said.

French President Jacques Chirac condemned the "hateful act."

"This defilement is even more shocking since it affected the tombs of soldiers who gave their lives for France," Chirac said in a statement.

The rector of the Paris Mosque, Dalil Boubakeur, called the incident a "cowardly and low act" and called on French authorities to find and punish those responsible. He said the vandalism was an attack on French values.

Segolene Royal, a leading candidate in the first round of presidential elections Sunday, said in a statement that the vandalism represented an "unspeakable attack against the memory of all those who participated in combat during World War I." The Associated Press

/The International Herald Tribune/