Right Blamed in Vandalism at Cemetery : Anti-Semitism: French official says he holds ‘racist and <i> provocateur’ </i> responsible for desecration of Jewish cemetery.

The interior minister said today he holds far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen indirectly responsible for the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in which a corpse was dug up and impaled on an umbrella.

Le Pen denied responsibility and said the desecration of 34 tombs at the cemetery in south-central Carpentras was probably planned by people who wanted to discredit the extreme right.

France’s National Assembly suspended its session for 15 minutes today in protest, and leaders across the political spectrum reacted with outrage at the vandalism, which was discovered early Thursday.

Relatives held an impromptu religious ceremony at the cemetery, while about 50 Jewish demonstrators gathered outside under a banner reading “We Will Not Let History Repeat Itself.”

Interior Minister Pierre Joxe said several tombs in Carpentras were left “in conditions so abominable that one can’t describe them without embarrassment.” Joxe traveled to the town to inspect the site.

The body of an 81-year-old man who died about two weeks ago was found impaled on an umbrella, police said. Grave markers had been knocked over and flower pots were trampled.

A previously unknown group calling itself the “Mohamed El Boukima Group” claimed responsibility in a phone call to a local newspaper. Police said they were trying to authenticate the call.

Authorities said the fingerprints of at least four people were found on tombstones.

The incident occurred two days after a nationwide telecast of a three-hour documentary about Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.

Joxe said Le Pen, of the extreme-right National Front, was a “racist and provocateur. “ The far-right party has been accused of condoning anti-Semitism and other forms of racism.

Le Pen, in Denmark for a meeting of right-wing European politicians, said the incident was a plot to soil his party’s reputation.

“It seems more and more evident that it is a political plot against the National Front,” he said from his hotel north of Copenhagen. “I don’t feel guilty at all in this case. I condemn those who did this, and I condemn all those who organized this.”

Jean Kahn, leader of a national coalition of Jewish groups, said the desecration comes at a time when racial hatred is being encouraged “by those who promote anti-Semitic rhetoric and fascist themes.”