The graveyard has now been sealed off. Photo: Marcel Krijgsman ANP/HH
A World War II cemetery in Nijmegen has been vandalised with anti-Russian texts and swastikas, news website Nu.nl said on Wednesday afternoon.
The website published several photos showing Ukrainian flags, swastikas and the text ‘Fuck Russia’ painted across the entrance to the Jonkerbos cemetery and on several grave stones.
The location is the last resting place for 1,642 soldiers, mainly British but also Canadians, Australians and other allies.
Nijmegen mayor Hubert Bruls said the vandalism was ‘disgusting’. ‘And to happen on a day like today,’ he told the Gelderlander, referring to the May 4 Remembrance Day commemorations. ‘I cannot understand how someone would do this.’
The graveyard has been closed to the public while the police carry out a forensic examination and the clean up work goes ahead.
The cemetery was also sprayed with swastikas and racist texts in 1993, when three men were arrested and jailed for several months.
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