There is no telling who is behind this. Still, is it possible, just possible, that this had something to do with this Qur’an passage? “When your Lord inspired to the angels, I am with you, so strengthen those who have believed. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieved, so strike upon the necks and strike from them every fingertip.” (8:12) Or this one? “When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks…” (47:4)
“Six statues decapitated in a church in Poitiers,” translated from “Six statues décapitées dans une église à Poitiers,” by Amaury Bucco, Valuers Actuelles, January 12, 2022:
The vandalism with iron bars of the Saint-Denis basilica, in Seine-Saint-Denis, on January 5, is definitely far from being an isolated act. Valeurs Actuelles has discovered that two churches in Poitiers, in Vienne, located about two kilometers away, were vandalized a few days apart. The first vandalism was the subject of a brief article in the local press on January 5. This is the Saint-Porchaire church, yet located not far from the police station in a pedestrian area frequently monitored, as revealed by the site of the New Republic. According to a witness, two men deliberately threw a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the ground, which broke on the ground, during the weekend of January 1.
Father Genty, vicar general of Poitiers, does not wish to speak on the subject. A local police source told Valeurs Actuelles ??that one of the two men, aged around 30 and of “European type,” introduced himself to one of the parishioners present as an evangelist, then climbed on the altar to seize the statue and throw it to the ground, before fleeing with his accomplice. “This statue, about one meter high, was in the niche of a side chapel overlooking an altar framed by the statues of Saint Radegonde and Saint Thérèse,” the New Republic states.