About twenty swastikas were tagged in red, in the night from Saturday to Sunday, on the pillars of the arcades which border part of the rue de Rivoli, in the heart of Paris.
According to a police source, a man in his thirties, of Georgian origin, was arrested.
A man was taken into police custody overnight from Saturday to Sunday, suspected of having tagged twenty swastikas rue de Rivoli, in central Paris, indicates the Paris prosecutor's office.
An investigation for "degradation" was entrusted to the reception and proximity investigation service (SAIP) of Paris-center, added the prosecution, confirming information from the
Parisian
.
According to a source familiar with the matter, the suspect is a man born in 1989 in Georgia.
Tagged in red on the columns of the arcades of Rue de Rivoli, these crosses were visible early Sunday morning in photos posted on social networks.
On Twitter, the mayor of Paris clarified that the man was arrested by "a team of security agents".
"Preventing these intolerable acts is also part of their mission. The cleaning teams will intervene quickly to erase all traces of these messages", specified the town hall.
They dared ... #Paris, the Rue de Rivoli soiled with swastikas
Photos taken this morning 9:00 am
I
am
ashamed, I hope that the authors will be arrested and tried. @ Paris @ Anne_Hidalgo @ JeanLucRomeropic.twitter.com / mn0hyYYLXs
- Daniel Ielli (@ iDanFR3) October 11, 2020
On the same social network, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin mentioned "ignoble Nazi tags in the middle of Paris" and said "thank you to the police for the responsiveness".
According to figures from the Central Territorial Intelligence Service, racist acts increased by 38% in 2019. In detail, they are up 27% for anti-Semitic acts (687 acts), 54% for anti-Muslim acts ( 154 acts) and 130% for all other racist acts (1,142 acts).