Vandals desecrate 12 graves in WWI cemetery with swastikas

The government of the Pas-de-Calais region in northeastern France says a British World War I cemetery there has been desecrated, with vandals covering 12 graves and a monument in pink swastikas, SS insignia and other graffiti.

The cemetery in the town of Loos-en-Gohelle holds the remains of British and Canadian soldiers fallen in an October 1915 battle there.

France's minister for veterans, Hubert Falco, said Friday that the desecration, which took place before dawn, was "an insult to the memory" of the soldiers and an "insult to France."