Toulouse – “Neither God nor master”, all with a circled A, in reference to the anarchist movement. These are the inscriptions found on the bust of Cardinal Saliège this Sunday, not far from the Saint-Etienne cathedral in Toulouse. An act of vandalism perpetrated on the statue built in homage to this companion of the Liberation, who in 1942 took up the cause publicly for the Jews.
Since the discovery of tags, many voices have been raised in the face of this voluntary degradation. In the forefront of which, that of the mayor of Toulouse. “On this March 19, the anniversary of the heinous antisemitic assassinations of 2012, this act of desecration of the bust of Cardinal Saliège, who defended the persecuted Jews in 1942, is heavy with meaning and heinous. Our determination to defend democratic and humanist values is intact, ”says Jean-Luc Moudenc on his Twitter account.
“Intolerable act” for many elected officials, for Mgr Guy de Kerimel, the Archbishop of Toulouse, this “hurts Catholic Christians, the Jewish community, and anyone who respects human dignity”. “To profane the image of this man is to deny his courageous commitment, it is to profane the memory of the Jews of yesterday and today. Such an act only encourages hatred, injustice, contempt, violence. Not everything can be allowed, ”assures the representative of the diocese of Toulouse.
