The mural “Back the Blue” painted in downtown Tampa drew praise and criticism during the summer.
Kelli Campbell, who helped organize the mural told Fox 13 it was about showing support for law enforcement.
“We want to make sure that they know just because we aren’t the loudest, doesn’t mean we aren’t there and in numbers. There’s a huge force. Our ‘Back the Blue’ Florida group has 5,000 members in it, and that’s just a piece of the puzzle, of course.”
Campbell and the 40 people who painted the mural did not have an official permit. However, the mural was destroyed with red paint and tar shortly after it was created.
A Change.org petition posted the mural mocked the Black Lives Matter movement and “is a huge slap in the face for all the protesting we have been doing all over this country.”