An antisemitic graffiti tag was discovered in Saint-Moré, in the Yonne department, on Sunday, March 23. The inscriptions have since been removed. The mayor has filed a complaint.
It was a resident of Saint-Moré (Yonne) who alerted the mayor of the commune on Sunday, March 23. She noticed pink inscriptions on a wall at the entrance to the village. “She called me and said she had seen a message with the words ‘the Jew’ written on it. She didn’t read the whole thing, but she told me maybe we should go and have a look,” explained Domnin Benoit. The mayor went there himself and saw the vile inscription, full of spelling mistakes: “Out of five words, there was a spelling mistake in the word ‘enemy’, which says a lot about the level,” the mayor said ironically.
Outraged by the inscription, the mayor of Saint-Moré immediately called the gendarmes, who recorded the offense. Domnin Benoit also filed a complaint straight away. The very next day, he had the offensive markings cleaned off. “Clearly, on an election day, on a main road like the D606, it could have come from anyone: someone passing through, angry. Just plain stupidity,” he said regretfully. “Here, we are really dealing with a level of abjectness we have never had before in the commune.”
Racist and antisemitic remarks are punishable by law. The public prosecutor’s office was informed of the incident: “An investigation has been opened for damage to property intended for public use or decoration, as well as for public incitement to hatred or violence on the grounds of origin, ethnicity, nationality, or religion,” said Frédérique Mouzer, deputy prosecutor of the Republic in Auxerre. This offense is punishable by up to one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.
