Vandals desecrated the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malmö (southern Sweden) seven days in a row this month, breaking windows and demolishing a statue of Jesus.
The attentive folks at L’Observatoire de la Christianophobie reported Monday that for the week ending August 18, the church — located in the district of Västra Skrävlinge — was repeatedly profaned and is now protected by a nightly patrol.
Among the damage, a statue of Jesus was destroyed inside the church building and over the course of the week some 30 church windows were smashed with stones. The perpetrators also hurled other objects into the church through the broken windows.
In the aftermath of the incidents, the church suspended religious services to allow the building to be cleaned of the large amount of broken glass that had accumulated on the pews. In the meantime, the church was obliged to hold Sunday services outdoors, but this past Sunday the church managed to return to holding worship indoors again.
The Västra Skrävlinge church’s supervising priest, Mikael Göth, said that the escalating destruction has caused concern among his congregation. “People are distraught, anxious, and worried for their safety,” Göth said. “We are grieving.”