A Chicago woman has told local media that she was attacked for defending a pro-Palestine and pro-Mexico mural from being vandalized.
Natalie Figueroa, who works close to the mural, said she was attacked with “a metal hole punch” Friday night by a woman attempting to ruin the artwork with paint.
The mural, displayed in Chicago’s Lower West Side in Pilsen, depicts a Palestinian man and a Mexican man peacefully resting together in a field.
Figueroa told NBC5 Chicago she intervened after she caught the assailant trying to deface the Palestinian man in the mural. His face was burned off Friday night.
"I yelled at her and I’m like what are you doing? Stop doing that. And then we start[ed] arguing," Figueroa told NBC.
“I followed her to try and get a picture of her face because I wanted people to know what she was doing and she kept screaming at me... and at one point she just hits me, and I realize it’s with a metal hole punch."
She suffered two black eyes from the incident and has since filed a police report.
In cell phone footage taken by Figueroa, the woman is seen sitting on top of her with the makeshift weapon.
Figueroa said it was important for her to step in because “the mural was created out of love, and to show solidarity and a similar hurt.”
Police reportedly responded on the night, but no arrests have been made.
Taqi Spateen, an artist from the Middle East, traveled to Chicago to paint the mural, which was organized by a local group called The Mural Movement.
The group, which was set up by Delilah Martinez in 2020, emerged as a response to the murder of George Floyd, their website reads.
Their mission is “to uplift underserved communities, honoring victims of violence and social injustice through vibrant public art.”
In a statement to NBC, Martinez said: "It symbolized the struggles between Mexican and Palestinian culture.
“How different and similar they are [...] we welcomed him [artist] with open arms, and then for his mural to be vandalized and treated like this is disheartening.”
The Independent contacted the Chicago Police Department and The Mural Movement for comment.
