Italy's Jewish community is expressing outrage at the removal of three cobblestone plaques honoring Italian victims of the Holocaust. German artist Gunter Demnig has laid thousands of such plaques around Europe in front of the homes of people later killed in the Holocaust. He calls them "Stolpersteine," or stumbling stones.

Earlier this week, three such cobblestone plaques honoring the Spizzichino sisters were unveiled in Rome's Jewish ghetto. By Thursday the plaques were gone, with regular cobblestones remaining.

Italy's Union of Jewish Communities confirmed Friday it had organized a protest for Saturday. Union president Renzo Gattegna said the vandalism was "a shameful attempt to cancel the memory of the pain suffered by victims of the Nazis and Fascists."