ILLUSTRATIVE: Swastikas daubed along columns in central Paris, Oct. 2020. Photo: Twitter.

Antisemitic vandals defaced a memorial to the Holocaust in the French city of Grenoble  by engraving swastikas into its metal plate using a blowtorch.

The grisly act was discovered on Wednesday morning on a plaque commemorating deportees to the Auschwitz concentration camp, local media outlets reported.

Police have opened an investigation into the vandalism.

The Jewish community in Grenoble, located in the south of France, has not been spared the increasing violence and harassment that has targeted Jews in Paris and other cities around the country.

In May this year, the city’s municipal authorities were strongly criticized by CRIF, the representative organization of French Jews, for issuing a declaration of solidarity with the Palestinians during the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Yves Ganasia, CRIF’s representative in Grenoble, charged the city council with displaying “visceral antisemitism” for echoing Palestinian propaganda against Israel whilst remaining silent on more egregious human rights abuses in China and other countries.

In an interview with a national broadcaster more than two years ago, Grenoble’s rabbi warned that antisemitism was taking its toll on the local community.

“Around half of our core community has left the city,” Rabbi Nissim Sultan said in Feb. 2019.

“Each [antisemitic] inscription increased our awareness of a global reality that makes people fear for their children at school, in the street,” he added.