Politics
Naked Statue of Hillary Clinton Sparks Fight in New York City’s Financial District
Tempers flared over the grotesque artwork.
On Tuesday morning, the day of the final presidential debate, and only weeks ahead of the election, a nude statue of Hillary Clinton appeared in New York’s Financial District.
Citing accounts from witnesses, the New York Daily News reported that the statue was erected outside the Bowling Green subway station shortly before 6 a.m.
The grotesque-looking statue depicted the Democratic presidential nominee gesticulating wildly with a bare chest, torn clothes, and cloven hoofs, whilst a figure resembling a Wall Street banger rests his head on her breast.
According to the local newspaper the statue provoked a fight between an enraged woman objecting to the obscene caricature and defenders of the statue and its political message.
The woman identified by the paper only as Nancy, managed to knock over the statue, later telling the Daily News, “To put something up like this in front of my workplace … I shouldn’t have to see this.”
A mobile phone video filmed by a bystander showed the woman grappling with the statue’s creator, artist Anthony Scioli, as he tried to re-erect his artwork.
The situation was exacerbated as commuters gathered around the commotion and started to pick sides and argue over the legitimacy of the piece of protest art. Insults were exchanged as the altercation became increasingly heated.
A witness, 39-year-old IT worker Gene H., told Daily News that he believed the statue should stay on display because of freedom of speech. “This lady shows up and tips it over and starts assaulting anyone who tried to put it back up,” he said.
At around 8:30 a.m. police officers with NYPD’s counterterrorism unit finally arrived at the scene and forced the artist to take down the statue because he neglected to apply for a demonstration permit. Police seized the artwork and took it away in a van shortly afterwards. There were no arrests made.
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