Statue of Missak Manouchian in Marseille Desecrated

MARSEILLE — The statue dedicated to Missak Manouchian and his resistance group was profaned in Marseille. It was tagged with swastika the night of June 26, AFP reports.

The Armenian community of Marseille strongly condemned the desecration of the bust of the installed in a square in the city.

“The swastika drawn on the bust of Missak Manouchian is a reminder of the atrocities generated by intolerance, hatred and racism,” the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF) said in a statement.

CCAF reminded that Manouchian’s network consisted of “Armenians, Jews, Poles, Spaniards, Italians, and others from Central Europe, all migrants and stateless persons, is the image of the city. By his struggle for freedom by the sacrifice of their lives for the values of the Republic, it also symbolizes the values. Desecrate this monument is an insult to their memory and combat, but also all those and all those who descend, and through them France and the French.”

“The CCAF strongly condemns the desecration that is an affront to all those who love justice and freedom and asks public authorities to make every effort to ensure that the perpetrators of this heinous act are sought and punished,” the statement reads.

The President of South CCAF Marseille Province, Jacques Donabedian, told AFP they planned to lodge a complaint in the coming days.