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Police in the German town of Brühl in the Rhein-Neckar district of Baden-Württemberg released a statement claiming the vandals had left the parish centre a “picture of devastation”. The Christian centre was broken into on December 30 and police are now investigating the incident.

GETTY FILE PIC Vandals attacks a chapel in the German town of Brühl

Details of the defacement come amid a spate of attacks on Christian sites in Germany and Austria over the New Year period. In northern Austria, statues were beheaded and prayer books were burned when vandals broke into a chapel in the village of St Radegund on New Year’s Eve.

GETTY FILE PIC Religious iconography has been targeted in a spate of attacks

During the same day in the nearby town of Auerbach, vandals also broke into a site, where they smashed the glass casing around two Virgin Mary statues and stole 22 murals, which they then burned in a local wood. And just a few miles away, attackers broke into a chapel where they stole a Christ figure and beheaded a statue of St Barbara, in a sickening incident which caused 5,000 euros of damage. The culprits are still at large and while police continue to investigate the incidents, they believe the attacks may have been religiously or culturally motivated. The chapels are located within the Austrian region of Innviertel, which has witnessed an influx of migrants over the past year.

'MERKEL MUST GO': Brussels protest against German Chancellor Tue, February 14, 2017 Angry campaigners held placards with slogans reading 'Merkel not welcomed' and 'Merkel must go' following a spate of terror attacks against Germany. Play slideshow EPA 1 of 11 Protest on the sidelines of Angela Merkel's official visit in Brussels