Vandals in Ploermel

The statue of the Servant of God John Paul II at Ploermel in Brittany, erected amid in the face of protests late last year, has been defaced with paint.  Paul Anselin, the mayor responsible for the installation, remarked irenically that "this is the work of two or three vandals... I wouldn't mix them up with those who protested against the statue's installation".  The opponents of the statue's placement in the center of the town considered it to be a violation of la laicité française.