The Black Lives Matter street art outside of Trump Tower in Manhattan was vandalized again, with someone pouring black tar or paint on the yellow message.
NYC: Someone just dropped a sh-tload of TAR on the BLM mural in front of #Trump tower. ? Deblasio is going to have a fit. Epic! pic.twitter.com/8vyO0umwCS
— ???M?A?G?A??? (@BlessUSA45) October 25, 2020
The defacement occurred when people allegedly opened the back doors of a van and poured the black substance over the full length of the artwork on Sunday, police sources told the New York Post.
The artwork was painted back in July, with Mayor Bill de Blasio and Rev. Al Sharpton assisting with its construction.
The message is clear from the streets to the skyline: #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/za4HU5vedO
— NYC Mayor’s Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) July 9, 2020
President Trump slammed the mayor on July 1 over plans for the street art, citing the city slashing its police budget by $1 billion but authorizing “a big, expensive, yellow Black Lives Matter” street art on one of the country’s most famous streets.
“NYC is cutting Police $’s by ONE BILLION DOLLARS, and yet the @NYCMayor is going to paint a big, expensive, yellow Black Lives Matter sign on Fifth Avenue, denigrating this luxury Avenue,” Trump said.
The artwork has been defaced multiple times since the summer, including in July, when a woman was charged with criminal mischief for trying to destroy it.
“They do it for black people, right? Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter, but you want to defund the police for black people,” the woman said in a video while pouring black paint over the bold, yellow letters. “No. They’re lying. We’re not standing with Black Lives Matter. We want our police. Refund our police! Refund our police!”
