The almost aptly-named village of Barr, considered one of the wine capitals of eastern France, has been targeted by vandals who may have been making a political statement about pandemic lockdown measures. Last Saturday night, someone stole the final "R" from the main town sign, proudly standing on a roundabout near the famous Route des Vins, L'Alsace-Le Pays reports.

Barr thus became "Bar."

Source: Nathalie Kaltenbach-Ernst via Facebook

Mayor Nathalie Kaltenbach-Ernst launched a call on Facebook to find the missing letter. While she jokingly acknowledged that "everybody wants a piece of Barr," she also asked whether the act should be seen as "a subliminal message in favor of the reopening of bars' which have been closed for the past four months in France because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

If the letter is not found, the mayor lamented, the rest of the sign will just have to go, to be replaced with a new one. But the mayor said she was not planning on filing a complaint. In other words: No one should end up behind bars.