A bronze memorial commemorating the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenian Genocide victims was stolen from the Paris suburb of Chaville. This theft comes at a suspicious time after the French parliament voted last Thursday to make it a crime to deny that the Armenians suffered genocide. History shows that Ottoman Turks systematically killed 1.5 million Armenians in 1915. Turkey still denies the genocide ever occurred, and has threatened economic action against France for the bill.

The 660 lb. sculpture was cut from its pedestal in Chaville between Friday night and Saturday morning. Nothing else in the vicinity was vandalized, and it seems unlikely that the statue will be recovered. Stephane Topalian, a member of the Armenian Church council in Chaville said, “Police say it might have been stolen for the metal, but it seems too much of a coincidence that this should have happened just after parliament voted the Armenia bill.” There are more than 30 other memorials to Armenian Genocide victims across France.

source