Swastika Graffiti On Gay Bars In Paris In Hate Attacks

Story By: Joseph GolderSub-EditorMichel Leidig, Agency: Central European News

CEN/@CAFECOXBARPARIS

Bars in the heart of Paris gay scene have been defaced with swastikas causing widespread outrage.

The incident took place in the Marais district, a centre for LGBT culture in the French capital Paris with two popular LGBTQI clubs, the Cafe Cox Bar and the Banana Cafe Paris defaced with swastika graffiti.

Local elected official for the city’s 4th arrondissement, Boris Jamet-Fournier, tweeted pictures of one of the two bars that was defaced, saying: “Hate inscriptions in the centre of our dear Paris. Discovering these graffiti on a beautiful summer morning, after a call from the Operational Watch Centre, is a reminder that the fight against intolerance must NEVER cease. Firm condemnation. Support for the Cox.”

CEN/@JeanLucRomero

The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said: “I condemn with the utmost firmness the abject inscriptions tagged on the Banana Cafe Paris and the Cox . All my support to the teams. These messages of hate and homophobia will never have a place in Paris. I want the perpetrators to be quickly identified and judged.”

Jean-Luc Romero-Michel, who is the deputy mayor of Paris’ 12th arrondissement and who has been openly gay since becoming the first French politician to be ‘outed’ in 2000, tweeted: “Total solidarity with the iconic gay friendly bar Banana Cafe Paris who was covered with swastikas last night. Paris is an inclusive city and, as Anne_Hidalgo has so often reminded, it will never accept ahtred and LGBTQIphobias…”

The Cox bar tweeted: “We will fearlessly resist this violence with symbols that suddenly affects Gay establishments in the Marais. We warmly thank the town hall of Paris for its very active solidarity and for having acted quickly to erase these ignoble signs of hatred.”