The controversial Holocaust Memorial at the northern port city of Kavala was desecrated just two weeks after being inaugurated on June 7. The black marble monument at the site where 1,484 Jews were arrested and detained before being sent to death camps was covered in blue paint. The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece issued a statement:

“It is with sadness that we learned of the desecration of the Holocaust Memorial of Kavala, just two weeks after it was inaugurated … at the site where in 1943 the Jews of Kavala were arrested and detained before being deported to the death camps,”

The monument had caused controversy as a result of the postponement of its original inauguration after Kavala officials were opposed to the Star of David.

This year there has been an increase in vandalism of Jewish monuments, a sign of a rise in anti-semitism.

Authorities intervened to immediately clean and restore the monuments.