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Paris, 12 October 2020 

Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, commended the rapid arrest of the suspect who painted some 20 red swastikas around the Louvre Museum in rue de Rivoli, a main street in central Paris, over the week-end.

“During the German occupation in World War II, red Nazi swastika flags were flying along the entire length of rue de Rivoli. The headquarters of the Military Governor of Paris (Gauleiter) was situated in the Hotel Meurice on that street... It was an eerie sight to see swastikas back,” stressed Samuels.

The charged suspect is apparently in his early thirties and born in Georgia.

Paris Mayor, Anne Hidalgo, stated, “preventing such intolerable acts is part of our mission... Cleaning teams will intervene quickly to erase all traces of these messages.”

The Centre also backs French Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin’s “thanks to the Police for its rapid response.”

“Now we only await a similar approach from the judiciary to refuse an acceptance of such behaviour – as seen too often in recent cases – on grounds of psychiatric issues or narcotics/alcohol intoxication,” concluded Samuels.

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"There is no Freedom without Justice." (Simon Wiesenthal, 1908-2005)