On Thursday January 9, as many as 9 statues of the Holy Mary have been devastated in the Southern French towns of Pau, Artix, Moureux and Lons. It looks like the perpetrator most likely aimed at profaning precisely images of Mary because other figures or objects in the churches remained unscathed.  

As often in the context of this kind of attacks, the suspect has been considered as mentally unstable and sent to the psychiatry.

Bayonne Bishop Marc Aillet described the events as a sacrilege and emphasized the growing number of “religious and racist violence”. Indeed, profanations and vandalism of this type are on the rise in many Western European countries.

Source: pch24.pl