The Sint-Lambertuskerk on the Markt in Etten-Leur was smeared with paint on Friday evening. Someone saw this happen around eleven o’clock on Friday night and alerted the police. Officers were able to arrest the suspect. It concerns a thirty-year-old man from Etten-Leur. He has been detained and is being questioned.
“Everything was covered,” said secretary Johan Snijders of the Holy Maria parish, of which the Sint-Lambertus Church is a part, on Saturday morning. “The natural stone statues, the stairs, the doors…”
“We just finished six years of restoration work.”
He went straight to church Saturday morning when he heard what had happened. “We dropped off everything that was smeared. There were empty paint cans everywhere. We approached a company to clean up the mess. This must be done professionally, because everything is soaked with paint. And we are checking whether we are insured for this.”
Johan is very disappointed about what has happened. “We have just completed a period of six years of restoration work. We have just finished all the overdue maintenance and then we are confronted with scenes like this. Really very sad.”
A report has been made and the suspect is still in custody, the police said on Saturday.
