NYC’s Stonewall National Monument targeted by hate-filled suspect who destroyed 160 Pride flags
A hate-filled suspect destroyed 160 Pride flags around the historic Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village, cops say.
Newly released surveillance video shows the moment a man approaches the fencing around the gay-rights monument in Manhattan on Thursday and begins yanking the adorning flags off one by one, CBS News reported.
New York City Council member Erik Bottcher shared follow-up images of the vandalism, showing some of the flags snapped off the fence, broken, shredded and littered on the sidewalk.
“Bigots vandalized the Stonewall National Monument, snapping flag sticks & stealing 3/4 of the flags around the [perimeter] of the park,” Bottcher, who is a member of the gay community, wrote on X.
“Anyone who thinks this will intimidate our community is badly mistaken,” he added.
Mayor Eric Adams, who was celebrating an LGBTQ Pride Month gathering at his residence in Gracie Mansion at the time of the incident, also condemned the crime.
“Hate has no place in our city, and nothing will change that,” Adams said in a statement. “We love the LGBTQ+ community and celebrate them during Pride and all year round.
“We’ll always have your back, and we will bring whoever defaced the Stonewall monument to justice,” he added.
The NYPD said the investigation over the incident remains ongoing.
This is not the first time the monument has been vandalized during Pride Month.
Last year, a group of three men were caught on video tearing down several Pride flags at the national monument in Christopher Park.
The monument became America’s first national one recognizing LGBTQ rights in 2016 under then-President Barack Obama.
Six days of riots and protests in 1969 against a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, located across the street from the park, sparked a turning point in the LGBTQ+ rights movement.
