Statue at center of Charlottesville protests vandalized with anti-Trump graffiti

The Robert E. Lee statue at the center of violent far-right protests in Virginia in 2017 was vandalized Wednesday morning with anti-Trump graffiti, the Charlottesville Police Department confirmed.

It appears white paint was used to write “F— Trump” on the statue in Charlottesville’s Market Street Park, according to photos shared by WVIR. 

The local outlet reported there is also an illegible word on the back and blue paint splattered around the base of the controversial statue.{mosads}

A Charlottesville Police spokesman told The Hill the department is investigating, but there is no information available about potential suspects. 

The spokesman said statue has been vandalized “several times before.” The parks and recreation department cleaned it up early this morning, “pretty quickly” after being notified, he said. 

The statue had been previously defaced with “BLM,” seemingly referring to Black Lives Matter, last August ahead of the one-year anniversary of the white nationalist rally. 

The deadly “Unite The Right” rally was organized to support the statue of Lee which protestors were demonstrating to have taken down.

One woman was killed when a man, James Alex Field Jr., drove his car into the crowd of protesters. 

Field, from Maumee, Ohio, was sentenced to life plus 419 years on state murder and wounding charges earlier this month. 

—Updated at 5:24 p.m.