One more "old issue"

And one more military cemetery desecrated in France. This time a British one.

(Hat tip: Hervé)

A cemetery in northern France holding the remains of British soldiers killed in World War I has been desecrated, with 42 headstones broken and one scorched by a Molotov cocktail, French police said Tuesday.

The vandalism occurred late last week in the Albuera cemetery in Bailleul-Sir-Berthoult, near Lille. The graveyard's visitors' book was also torched, police said. No inscriptions were found.

"Two or three broken headstones, that unfortunately happens sometimes. But 42 -- that's never occurred. Everybody is shocked," said a spokesman for Britain's Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Christopher Farrell.

France's war veterans minister, Hamlaoui Mekachera, issued a statement expressing his "outrage" at the "barbarous and shocking" acts and called for an investigation to find those responsible.

The military cemetery, which contains 252 tombs, is one of 1,500 in France, where more than 400,000 soldiers from Britain and its former colonies are buried.

Vacation time maybe?

Police said on Friday that such acts of vandalism were common during school holidays and at weekends.

"This is sadly a part of the summer. It is a problem we have every year, but it was blown up this year because of the Etaples incident," said Roy Hemington, spokesman for the French area office of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Almost two years to the very day, this last tidbit was posted by yours truly on Pave France. Two years ago. Same old issues indeed.