A fire damaged a room in a Protestant temple in Behren-lès-Forbach in Moselle on Friday evening, without causing any casualties, we learned from concordant sources on Saturday.
Read alsoSeparatism law: the great fear of Protestant temples
"
A fire broke out in the early evening in a meeting room in the basement, it was contained and there were no injuries,
" said a source close to the investigation, adding that "
it would appear to be voluntary
”.
About fifteen firefighters were mobilized to extinguish the fire and an investigation was opened and entrusted to the gendarmerie.
“
I strongly condemn the damage and the arson of the Protestant church in Behren-lès-Forbach.
Everything is done to find the perpetrators of this unbearable act.
Support for Protestants in France,
”Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin reacted on Twitter.
"
There is no damage in the prayer room, just in a parish hall
," Heinrich Hoffmann, the pastor of Forbach and Behren-lès-Forbach, told AFP.
No worship had been held in this temple built in the 1960s for several months due to the Covid-19 epidemic, with services being held in a larger temple in Forbach.
The burnt room is "
a parish hall with a kitchen to organize parties,
" said the pastor, according to which "
it is vandalism
" without religious motive.
