LYON, Aug 31, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A Holocaust memorial in Lyon was defaced with a "Free Gaza" inscription, city officials told AFP on Saturday, fueling concerns over an increase in antisemitic acts and hate crimes in France.

In a photo city officials shared with AFP, the inscription appeared to have been scratched into the black marble of a plaque on the monument with a sharp object.

"The vandalism of the Holocaust Memorial in Lyon is an intolerable act. I condemn it and express my full solidarity with memory associations, survivors and their descendants," the city's mayor, Gregory Doucet, wrote in a statement sent to AFP.

"The perpetrators will be sought and prosecuted. Lyon stands firm against hatred, antisemitism and racism," Doucet added.

The monument in central Lyon was inaugurated in January 2025 to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.

"The fact that this inscription was made on a Holocaust memorial clearly constitutes an antisemitic act," a city hall official told AFP, adding that the municipality had quickly removed the inscription to restore it.

The president of the Holocaust Memorial association, Jean-Olivier Viout, has filed a complaint, according to the city hall.

France's Jewish community -- one of the largest in the world -- says the number of antisemitic acts has surged following the attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023 which was followed by Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip and aid blockade.

In the first six months of 2025, 646 antisemitic acts were recorded across the country, according to the interior ministry -- 27 percent less than in the first half of 2024, but a 112 percent increase compared to the same period in 2023.