Tombstones vandalized in Jewish cemetery in Rome
Tombstones vandalized in Jewish cemetery in RomeEtrog.it

Dozens of gravestones were desecrated in the Jewish section of the Verano cemetery in Rome, Italy.

It is believed the gravestones were desecrated overnight Thursday. The vandalism was discovered Friday morning by a cemetery employee.

The chief rabbi of Rome, Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, arrived at the scene to examine the damage and even prayed with the families of those whose tombstones were desecrated.

Local police have launched an investigation.

The Chabad emissary in Rome, Rabbi Menachem Lazar, is helping families who live abroad and whose loved ones’ tombstones were vandalized in rebuilding the tombstones.

Late last month, vandals smashed 10 tombstones at a cemetery in the Romanian capital Bucharest, in what a local anti-Semitism organization said was "a premeditated act".

Two weeks earlier, two Holocaust memorials in Greece were vandalized.

In early April, a Jewish cemetery in France saw 80 percent of its tombstones smashed by unidentified perpetrators.