AP Photo
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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: December 18, 2004 |
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| A cemetery worker replaces gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, Dec. 17, 2004. Vandals defiled a Jewish cemetery in St. Petersburg for the second time this year, scrawling swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti on 30 graves anda synagogue, Jewish leaders said Friday. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky) |
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Vandals defiled a Jewish cemetery in St. Petersburg for the second time this year, scrawling swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti on 30 graves and a synagogue, Jewish leaders said Friday.
Mark Grubarg, head of St. Petersburg Jewish Community, called on police to do more to protect the cemetery, where people found "Jews Get Out of the Country!", "Long Live Holocaust!" and "Heil Hitler!" scrawled on the synagogue. Graves were covered with swastikas and Nazi SS signs.
"This is the worst thing to defile something sacred, the history. And it's so low to fight the dead," Grubarg said.
The cemetery was also vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti in February.
Grubarg said the incident flies in the face of President Vladimir Putin's calls to prevent any sort of extremism or intolerance in Russia.
"Such actions present a big danger for such a multinational state as Russia," he said.
Vandalism of Jewish sites in Russia has become more frequent in recent years, Jewish leaders say.
Anti-Semitic acts, including violence, are occasionally reported, but top Jewish leaders have largely praised the efforts of Putin's government in encouraging religious tolerance.
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