George Floyd statue vandalised by white supremacist group

A George Floyd statue has been vandalized by a white supremacist group in Brooklyn.

The incident is now being investigated as a hate crime by the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force, NBC New York reports, with the department revealing that the damage to the statue, which was only recently unveiled, was discovered on Thursday morning (June 24).

Watch a news report about the incident below: 

The statue was painted black, and the name of a white nationalist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center had been spray painted to its pedestal.

Images of four suspects walking along Glenwood Road and Flatbush Avenue before the incident took place were released by police on Thursday, with one of them appearing to shake a can of spray paint.

Credit: NYPD

Flatbush resident Courtney Nelson said that she was disgusted by the damage to the statue in her neighborhood.

"This is unacceptable - as a humanity, as a race, as a whole," Nelson said. "We will be back, we're gonna clean it and keep moving forward."

NBC New York reports that Floyd's brother Terrence had been present for the unveiling of the six-foot statue on Sunday and said it was an important way to keep his brother's memory alive.

"It's a major statement for a major person," Terrence Floyd told NBC. "To see Brooklyn represent him, and honor him on a national holiday, it's all love."

Terrence is pictured below speaking at the event.

Credit: Alamy / REUTERS

New York City Council Member Farah Louis, a Democrat and vice co-chair of the Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus, condemned the vandalism in a statement released on Thursday (June 24).

"Let us be clear: this is a shameful act, a hate crime and totally disrespectful to the memory of Mr. Floyd and to the Black community as well our efforts to achieve racial justice and equality. And we will not be deterred," Louis said.

"I ask anyone with information to please come forward and contact the NYPD. My office is working with artist Chris Carnabuci, ConfrontART and the We Are Floyd Foundation to repair the damage to this beautiful and moving work of public art."

Lindsay Eshelman of Confront Art told News 4, "to bring it here was a collaborative community effort and we will not let this vandalism, or should I say, 'hate,' deter our message... the art is here to speak for itself and we are going to restore it so it can do that."

Featured image credit: Alamy / David Grossman