Australia: 76 Russian and Serbian graves vandalised in Sydney

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Published on Dec 11, 2014 by RuptlyTV
Vandals struck Australia’s largest cemetery on Tuesday, damaging 76 headstones and graves in the Russian Orthodox and Serbian Orthodox sections of Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney.

RT has the story:

At least 76 graves, mostly Russian and Serbian, have been damaged by vandals in a Sydney cemetery. The incident, already condemned by Moscow, happened a day before Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s official visit to Australia.

Headstones knocked down, crosses turned over – that’s how the Russian and Serbian sections of the Rookwood Cemetery, the biggest in Australia, looked after an attack that reportedly took place before dawn on Wednesday.

Some of the damaged graves were also discovered in two non-denominational sections of the cemetery, which led to police being skeptical of whether the attack had been provoked by racial or religious hatred.

However, the timing of the assault – a day before the Ukrainian president’s arrival for a two-day visit to Australia – has given rise to suspicions that the desecrators particularly targeted Russian graves.

The Russian Orthodox cemetery spokesperson, Aleksey Ivachyoff, said no politics could excuse what was done to the graves.

“Some people that I’ve seen coming here, once the news came across, they were crying,” he told RT. “They said, ‘Nothing like this has ever happened before.’”

“There is absolutely… no excuse,” he added. “Whatever political differences people have, they shouldn’t take it [out] on the cemetery. They shouldn’t take it [out] on the graves. They should let people there rest in peace.”

The Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations labeled the attack a hate crime, calling for an investigation “at the highest levels,” the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry in a statement on Friday also condemned “the blasphemous desecration of our compatriots’ graves, which cannot be justified.”

On Thursday, Cossacks living in Australia – descendants of those who emigrated from Russia a century ago – announced they will reward anyone with information about the vandals with 5,000 Australian dollars, TASS reports. The Cossacks, who were the first to report the assault, have said they are currently helping police patrol the damaged cemetery to prevent new attacks.

Daily Telegraph (AU): Russian Orthodox Community devastated by desecration of Rookwood graves

THE Russian Orthodox community is devastated by the senseless destruction of more than 70 graves at Rookwood Cemetery overnight.

Church spokesman Alexi Ivacheff said he believed the vandalism, which occurred the day before Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko arrived in Australia, was targeted at the Russian Orthodox community.

“Words can’t describe how we’re feeling but we hope to hear more news from the police,” he said.

Police are investigating the desecration of 76 gravestones in the Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian and non-denominational sections of the cemetery.

It is believed the offenders broke into the cemetery on Hawthorne Ave and pushed over or smashed 76 gravestones between 9pm on Tuesday and 6am yesterday.

Mr Ivacheff said the gravestones of prominent Russian people were destroyed in the attack.

“The cross on the top of a priest’s grave has been snapped off,” he said.

“And the grave of a man who was a chef for the Russian Imperial Court, who was buried here in the 1950s, his grave was also damaged.”

Detective Inspector Paul Arnold has labelled the vandalism a senseless and mindless act and said someone in the community would know who was behind the attack.

“No doubt people would be skylarking about it on social media, so if you see anything please report it to police,” Insp Arnold said.

“We have reviewed CCTV footage from the cemetery but it’s not assisting us at this time.”

The graves of Stojan Radic’s godmother and family friends in the Serbian Orthodox section were among those damaged in the attack.

“Whoever did this, how dare they desecrate the graves of our loved ones,” Mr Radic said.

“It’s hard to describe how angry I’m feeling, and it’s worse because I’m going to have to make some upsetting phone calls back home to Serbia. They’ll probably have a heart attack.”

Insp Arnold refused to speculate on whether the vandalism was targeted at Russians.

“There is nothing to suggest this was linked to other events… We don’t want to speculate. There are no suspects at this time.”

However Insp Arnold said that the fact 76 headstones were damaged suggested more than one offender.

Mr Poroshenko arrived this morning and will join Prime Minister Tony Abbott at a Melbourne prayer vigil for victims of the downed flight MH17.

Police are asking for anyone who may have witnessed any suspicious activity in the area or has information on the crime to come forward and call CrimeStoppers on +61 1800 333 000.

More here.