Swastika painted on Mierlo WWII cemetery chapel, graves vandalized

Graves, walls and the chapel of the Second World War cemetery in Mierlo were vandalized overnight. A massive swastika was painted on the inner wall of the chapel, and 'MH17 lie' was written on the outside wall in large black letters. The white gravestones in the British plot were also vandalized, Omroep Brabant reports.

This is the second swastika to appear in the Mierlo War Cemetery in a week, a person present at the cemetery said to the broadcaster. Another one was spray painted there last week. It had just been removed when the new vandalism occurred.

Many soldiers who fell in Oost-Brabant during allied offensive Operation Market Garden in September 1944 are buried in the cemetery on Geldropseweg.

The vandalism comes during a time of WWII commemoration and celebration of Brabant's liberation 75 years ago. Last week Wednesday, Brabant soldiers and members of the resistance who were killed during and after the Second World War were commemorated in the St. Willibrordus church in Waalre. The people who died in Operation Market Garden will be honored and commemorated in the coming weeks.