A large marble slab commemorating the synagogue burnt to the ground by Nazis during WWII was knocked off its plinth in Strasbourg as France faces a rise of anti-Semitic attacks.

“A new incident of anti-Semitism in our town,” Alain Fontanel, Strasbourg’s deputy mayor, wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning posting a photo from the scene.

Une nvlle fois ds notre ville un acte antisémite 😡La Synagogue #quaiKleber était incendiée par les nazis il y a près de 80 ansLa stèle qui évoque ce drame a été vandalisée cette nuitNs faisons tt notre possible avc les forces de police pr que les responsables soient arrêtés pic.twitter.com/QM9QMIhoWO — Alain Fontanel (@AlainFontanel) March 2, 2019

The official later told local media that the damage was caused intentionally since “you can’t push a stele of this weight by chance especially since the message is clearly written on it.”

The memorial stone marks the site of the Strasbourg’s Kleber Wharf synagogue, which was looted and burned by the Nazis in 1940.

The memorial location might have been significant for the perpetrator, a local Jewish organization spokesman suspects, saying that vandals sought “to erase the memory of the Kleber wharf synagogue by destroying it twice."

Officials promised to take all necessary actions to punish those responsible for the act, while Strasbourg Mayor Roland Ries admitted he is “very worried about this resurgence of the anti-Semitism.”

“Sadly, history repeats itself,” the mayor wrote on his Facebook page.

In February, France witnessed a number of high-profile anti-Semitic attacks. Dozens of graves were desecrated at a Jewish cemetery outside Strasbourg prompting president Emmanuel Macron as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to come up with strong-worded statements.

L'antisémitisme est la négation de ce qu'est la France. En route pour le cimetière profané de Quatzenheim et ce soir au Mémorial de Shoah pour rappeler les faits, la morsure dans notre histoire de ces faits, et pour dire ce qu’est la République : un bloc face à tout cela. — Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) February 19, 2019

Today something shocking happened in France. Eighty Jewish graves were desecrated with Nazi symbols by wild anti-Semites.I call on the leaders of France and Europe to take a strong stand against anti-Semitism. pic.twitter.com/6U13goK81S — PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) February 19, 2019

Anti-Semitic acts also hit Paris as swastikas were sprayed on post boxes with portraits of the prominent French politician and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil. In another incident, offenders drew the word Juden (German for Jews) on the window of a bakery in central Paris.

Also on rt.com Jewish graves vandalized in France as government vows tough response to rising anti-Semitism

In 2018, the total number of anti-Semitic attacks in France increased by 74 percent, jumping to 541 from 311 in 2017, France’s interior minister Christophe Castaner said adding that anti-Jewish sentiments “spread like poison.”

Christophe Castaner: "L'antisémitisme a progressé de 74% l'année écoulée" pic.twitter.com/ck0hERJkUh — BFMTV (@BFMTV) February 11, 2019

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