Someone used white spray paint to write "hate will not be tolerated," and underneath, "#SomethingsComing."
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A paper sign was also put on the pedestal, reading "Save your soul" and "#SomethingsComing," and both hands were painted red.
No arrests have been made, and the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force has been notified.
The statue is at the southern foot of the Mall Walkway, just north of Center Drive. Parks crews spent hours on the cleanup effort.
Just last month "Don't Honor Genocide" was spray painted in blue paint on a monument of Christopher Columbus in Queens.
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For the Columbus Citizens Foundation, this is very personal.
"Christopher Columbus is a symbol for all Italian Americans as a person who discovered the new world," Angelo Vivolo said. "It's a terrible act. We all have different opinions, however, we must act a civil way to discuss what we believe in. And to deface a statue that's in Central Park is lawless."
As discussions and reviews of controversial monuments across the city continues, many agree defamation isn't the best way for protesters to get their point across or achieve their goals.
"I think people may see it as vandalism, first and foremost, and then maybe the underlying message is lost," park visitor Ed Haas said. "I think there's ways to get your message out."