A crowd of Yellow Vest protesters broke into and trashed a Masonic lodge in the French village of Tarbes. The ransacking has been condemned by the French authorities, who accused the protesters of “stupidity” and “intolerance.”
Some 450 protesters had gathered in Tarbes on Saturday for the 17th straight weekend of anti-government demonstrations. Around midnight, La Dépêche paper reported, some protesters started shouting “we’re going to the freemasons!”
A smaller crowd of protesters marched on the Masonic temple, with one battering down the door of the secretive group’s clubhouse. More protesters pelted rocks on the constructing and ultimately the group compelled its means inside. They overturned furnishings, trashed the esoteric artwork hanging on the partitions, and stole 4 ceremonial swords; they gave these again in a while.
Police have opened an investigation, and France’s Interior Minister Christophe Castaner condemned the vandalism.
“After the Jews, the Freemasons,” he tweeted, alluding to alleged anti-Semitism inside the ranks of the protesters. “When stupidity encounters intolerance, it is the worst.” Castaner additionally accused the Yellow Vests of getting “no other project than hatred.”