The incident happened around 10 a.m. in Union Square Park.
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Police say a male suspect threw paint at the George Floyd statue and then fled on a skateboard.
Crews at the park attempted to clean the paint off the statue that afternoon.
The statue, along with statues of John Lewis and Breonna Taylor, were unveiled at the park last week.
Statues of George Floyd, John Lewis and Breonna Taylor unveiled in NYC
The other two statues both remained untouched.
The exhibition is titled "See Injustice," and was created by artist Chris Carnabuci.
Carnabuci was unavailable to speak, but a joint statement was released by Confront Art and We are Floyd in response to the incident.
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"It takes a lot of courage to display the three statues we are exhibiting in Union Square. It also takes a good deal of courage to vandalize a statue on a global stage in broad daylight. This continues to bring light to our mission that art is a conversation catalyst, a place for public discourse, and through these acts we can hopefully overcome hate and find unity for the future. We continue to be inspired to create and display public art to further this important mission."
The exhibition was the brainchild of Confront Art, and is the organization's first installation.
This is the second time this exact same George Floyd statue was vandalized. Back in June, the 11-foot-tall art piece was blasted with black paint.
George Floyd statues vandalized in Brooklyn, Newark
Eyewitness News spoke with Floyd's brother Terrence Floyd, who says he's saddened by the vandalism but not surprised because he says the hate still exists.
With the Floyd statue is back to its original form, police are keeping a close eye on it and still searching for the vandal.