Man admits to desecratation of Jewish graves in Lyon

A man has confessed to desecrating a Jewish cemetery in Lyon in eastern France last week, a police source said yesterday.

Last Tuesday, swastikas and slogans were found on 56 graves and a war memorial in Lyon, France's second-largest city.

The man, who is about 30 years old, handed himself over to the police in Paris overnight, the source said. After his confession he was transferred to Lyon where police searched his house and found "suspicious elements", the source said, confirming a report by French radio station RTL.

President Jacques Chirac, the government, opposition and Jewish leaders last week condemned the attack in Lyon that followed a recent series of similar attacks in eastern France.

An Interior Ministry statement said the suspect would be brought before magistrates today and that police and judicial investigations into unidentified vandals involved in cemetery degradations would continue.

The latest anti-Jewish act was last Saturday when vandals drew a swastika and wrote "death to the Jews" on a low wall in front of Paris's Notre Dame cathedral.

Christian and Muslim symbols have also been targeted recently despite a government drive to eradicate racism and protect France's tolerant image.