According to a report by the German newspaper, Bild, a life-sized Nativity scene that was part of a Christmas market near the town hall in Rüsselsheim, Germany was heavily vandalized sometime in the early morning of Monday, Dec. 17, 2023.

The Nativity scene was part of the display of an Evangelical church located at the market.

All the figures portraying Joseph, Mary, the three Wise men, and even the donkey were beheaded. Some had their hands broken off, and two of the figures including Joseph had also been knocked over. The manger had also been destroyed.

According to the report, the Nativity scene looked like a battlefield and the figure of Jesus in the manger, which was initially reported as missing, was later found beneath the rubble.

Police are looking into the vandalism and are treating it as a potential religion-motivated hate crime.

This is not the first time, that the nativity scene has been vandalized. It had also been attacked in 2021 and 2022.

Before 2021, there had not been a single act of vandalism against the Nativity scene that has been set up for decades at the annual Christmas market.

Rüsselsheim has a population of 67,000 and is located in the southern part of Germany.