A vandal gave both the Charging Bull and Fearless Girl statues in lower Manhattan a splash of blue Thursday morning, police said.
Video captured near Bowling Green shows a woman pouring a blue powdery substance over the bull’s head sometime before 7:30 a.m.
A blue sash was also draped around Fearless Girl statue that reads, “Draw the blue line,” a reference to the Paris Agreement, which the US elected to withdraw from earlier this year.
The vandalism was quickly cleaned up before the morning rush, witnesses said.
“Around 6:30 they were hosing it down. It was an officer. The street was closed off,” said Davon Titus, 27, who works at Planet Fitness across the street.
Supporters of the Paris Agreement are being encouraged to draw blue lines in public during this week’s meetings at the UN General assembly, according to a Facebook campaign.
A Facebook post of the vandalized bull indicates it was doused in corn oil and industrial chalk. It also titled the act “Bulls–t” (2017) – Performance vandalism by Courtney Frances Fallon.”
Another post of the decorated Fearless Girl statue referred to it as “Suffragette Sash,” also by Courtney Frances Fallon.
“I would say it’s brave. It’s a bold statement to get the message out because it’s a very known landmark,” said Titus of the vandalism. “It makes it urgent to wash it down which makes the message get out. It’s necessary to create regulations for safety for the climate.”
But security guard Farhad Barekzei disagreed.
“If you want to protest come protest, don’t destroy the thing,” he said.
Still, Barekzei, 53, said the defacement should serve as a message to President Trump, who announced in June that the US would pull out of what he called a “draconian” Paris climate accord.
“Donald Trump — you think we should listen to him? Look at the climate, what’s going on around the world. Look at Florida, look at Texas,” he said. “It’s all over the world. He needs to pay attention to this and not just to me me me.”
No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.