French Jewish cemetery desecrated with swastikas

Some 37 gravestones and a monument to Holocaust victims were sprayed with anti-Semitic graffiti on Tuesday, in a cemetery near Strasbourg, France, hours before the attack near the Christmas market in the city took place.

A memorial ceremony took place at the grave yard on Friday following the event.

Interior minister Christophe Castaner was among the participants at the Herrlisheim cemetery, for Friday's event to denounce anti-Semitism and remember Holocaust victims.

The desecration that included Nazi swastikas was discovered on Tuesday, hours before an attacker sprayed gunfire near the Christmas market of Strasbourg, killing three people.

The French government sounded the alarm last month over a sharp rise in anti-Semitic acts this year in France, which is home to Europe's largest Jewish population.