Automorphic Lefschetz properties via $L^2$ cohomology

In this paper one proves a special case of a conjecture by Nicolas Bergeron. This conjecture is a kind of automorphic Lefschetz property. It relates the primitive cohomology of a locally symmetric manifolds modeled on $U(p,q+r)$ to the primitive cohomology of some of its totally geodesic submanifolds that are locally symmetric and modeled on $U(p,q)$.