Grave Indignity

It's hard to believe, but some dirtbag broke into St. Michael's Catholic Cemetery in Happy Valley and trashed 37 graves and 130 vases.

It was the first act of "large-scale desecration" in the 160 years the cemetery has been open. Headstones were knocked over and photos of the dead were defaced or destroyed outright. It takes special depravity to vandalize the final resting places of the deceased, in that such an act hurts the living, in more ways than one.

A security guard said that after opening the main gate a middle-aged woman rushed out, after which he discovered the damage and called the police. Not the sharpest tool in the shed; he should have stopped her on the spot for trespassing, even if later she proved not to be responsible for the desecration. As it stands she's unknown, with the police investigating who might have been carrying a grudge against St. Michael's.

I hope the cemeteries next door take heed and augment their own security; a lot of Hong Kong history lies in the soil and many of the headstones are incredible antiques.

It would be a shame to lose them.

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