Stéphane Burgatt / Photo credit: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP (Illustration)
For several months, the largest cemetery in the Marseille city has been faced with repeated thefts. Bronze statues, marble plaques and other funerary objects are particularly targeted by thieves. The victims, shocked, hope for better protection of the site.
Repeated thefts and assaults… in a cemetery. In Marseille, the Saint-Pierre cemetery, the largest in the city, is facing looting of funerary objects. Assaults have also been reported and several complaints have been filed. The indignation is total and voices are being raised to demand more security in what must remain a place of contemplation. Europe 1 went to the site.
Impossible for him to return to the cemetery immediately. Philippe Sanmarco was recently the victim of a theft. “I could no longer find the marble box where my daughter’s ashes rest. And not only had she disappeared, but others nearby had also disappeared. You can imagine the trauma that this creates for you,” he whispers. “When I recover, I will go with a very ugly piece of cardboard with tape, and I will specify that the plate was stolen amid general indifference.”
A license plate reading system installed at entrances
Bronze statues, marble plaques… These ornaments do not only have sentimental value and this is why Joseph learned to anticipate the sightings of thieves. “There, it’s full of little stones. They throw them at them to find out if people are coming or not, they make dens to steal from. That wasn’t there the last time I came.” , he explains, pointing to stones on a grave. “All these little stones don’t fall from the sky.”
Spread over more than 60 hectares, this cemetery sometimes gives visitors the impression of being isolated. Gaby has been wary since he witnessed a theft. “By the time people go to put the flower pots, they attack the cars and steal the bags. What the hell is this?”, gets angry from Marseillais.
The town hall has since installed a license plate reading system at the entrances, but no perpetrator of the theft has yet been identified.