DANS arrests Bulgarians for the desecration of the Holocaust Memorial in Paris

Two Bulgarians were detained during joint actions of DANS and the Ministry of Interior on the territory of the country.

They are part of a group of persons suspected of vandalizing the Holocaust Memorial (Mémorial de la Shoah) in Paris.

A third Bulgarian citizen, a member of the group, was detained on the territory of an EU member state. In mid-May, it was reported that red palms were painted on the memorial. The site is known as the Wall of the Righteous, on which are inscribed the names of nearly 4,000 men and women who helped save Jews during World War II.

The actions taken are in fulfillment of a European Arrest Warrant issued on July 19 by the French authorities in connection with a criminal proceeding led by them for participation in an organized criminal group, destruction and damage to another's property after prior collusion with other persons, according to ethnic, racial and other inducements.

It is known that the detained persons gravitate around Bulgarian groups professing far-right extremist ideology.

DANS is conducting actions to identify the instigators and accomplices in the vandalism in Paris, the agency says.

35 graffiti of red hands on the Paris memorial has sparked widespread condemnation amid a spate of hate crimes in France since the start of the Gaza war last October.