Hosier Lane street art destroyed by vandals using fire extinguishers full of paint
Masked vandals who defaced the walls of one of Melbourne’s top tourist drawcards have been branded “idiots”. Lord Mayor Sally Capp issued this warning to those responsible.
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Lord Mayor Sally Capp has criticised the vandalism of Hosier Lane as “unacceptable” and says the matter has been referred to police to investigate.
Street art on the walls of the popular tourist spot were defaced by vandals using fire extinguishers full of paint.
Footage shared on social media shows a group of young men blasting the CBD laneway with paint, covering some of the murals.
The vision, filmed on Saturday night, showed the men with their faces covered as they walk back and forth along the laneway, spraying paint over the artworks.
Ms Capp said council contractors attended Hosier Lane this morning to clean the cobblestones and curbing.
She said the act was “not in keeping with the spirit of Hosier Lane”.
“We see this act as vandalism particularly given the damage they’ve done to the pavement and cobblestones,” she said.
“The City of Melbourne has reported the incident to Victoria Police.”
Melbourne City Council will review security at Hosier Lane after the weekend incident.
Ms Capp said significant damage had been done to council and private property by a group of males yet to be identified.
“We’ve always been proud that we are the street art capital of Australia, and appreciate the value that it brings to our culture and our society,” she said.
Asked if the perpetrators were idiots, Cr Capp said: “Idiots is one word for it, I think the intentional nature of the behaviour means that they are vandals, they are criminals, they have really assaulted a part of the city that’s very special.”
Ms Capp described Melbourne as the street art capital of Australia and said: “We recognise the importance of street art to our city’s culture, particularly as an attraction for local and overseas visitors.”
Onlookers were seen watching on as the area was covered with paint.
In the vision, the men are heard cheering and yelling and have a drone flying above them.
Police local area commander for city west, Inspector Troy Papworth, said CCTV footage showed that up to 10 males wearing masks were behind the attack on Saturday evening.
“It’s definitely intimidatory, people have had their faces covered, they’ve walked up and down the laneway with flagrant abandon and painted the walls there,” he said.
Inspector Papworth said the police were looking at offences including criminal damage, intimidatory behaviour and illegal use of a drone.
The Lord Mayor said the council was preparing an official complaint to people outlining damage to the bluestone cobbled laneway and to private buildings.
“We’re talking to police about security in that area...we have just completed late last year a review ourselves of that area, what sort of measures we need to put in place to ensure that people have a safe and also an enjoyable experience in Hosier Lane,” she said.
“Following this incident we’ll definitely be reviewing with police to see what else is needed.”
Tourism Minister Martin Pakula blasted the “ridiculous behaviour” of the vandals who targeted the popular street art destination.
“For idiots to try and destroy that for their own gratification just boggles my mind quite frankly,” Mr Pakula said.
“I hope that they are caught and I hope they are dealt with.”
Chase Joslin who works at the Culture Kings store on Hosier Lane said he hadn’t seen such a significant paint bombing to the lane before.
“Not to this scale. Sometimes people come down and do a big white wall so people can go fresh over it.
“It is weird that they’ve only done a little part of it … but it must be a big deal if they’re coming to clean it up,” Mr Joslin said.
He said the event wasn’t one he thought needed to be reported to police.
“No, it’s just part of the culture and the way the laneway is. It’s going to happen and then it’s fine for artists to come down and paint over it again.”
American tourists Ben and Sarah said they knew Melbourne was famous for its street art and Hosier Lane came as a highly recommended visit.
“We looked up Melbourne street up and this came up right away. It’s great, it’s a shame people want to destroy it though,” Julia said.
The crew tasked with the clean up, said it would take about an hour to 90 minutes to finish the job.
The inner-city lane site is usually filled with people taking photos of the street art.
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Several people have vented their frustration at the act, with multiple people commenting on Instagram that it was disappointing and that people should have called the police.
A Melbourne City Council spokeswoman said they were investigating.