Anti-Cop BLM Mural Facing Lawsuit — From Police

A Palo Alto police department is threatening litigation over a BLM mural with anti-police messaging painted near its department.

The mural sparked headlines for featuring an image of a cop killer and New Black Panthers logo, iconography meant to stir anti-police discourse in the community.

Part of the mural features an image of Joanne Chesimard, who killed a white police officer in 1977 and fled to Cuba under the pseudonym Assata Shakur.

According to the New York Post report, five police officers from Palo Alto PD are spearheading the lawsuit.

“Law enforcement officers, including the plaintiffs, were forced to physically pass and confront the mural and its offensive, discriminatory and harassing iconography every time they entered the Palo Alto Police Department,” claims the pending lawsuit, which has yet to be filed according to city attorney Molly Stump.

The language of the lawsuit adds, "The mural included the logo of the New Black Panthers, which is identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group that has encouraged violence against whites, Jews and police officers."

With threats from the PD to submit their claim over instigating harassment and defamatory messages, the artwork has since been removed.

The mural was created by artist Cece Carpio — a BLM supporter and outspoken critic of police.

The anti-policing movement spawned by the disastrous riots of 2020 have created a split between those advocating for police to keep their neighborhoods safe from the recent crime wave and activists ready to tarnish police departments' reputation within their communities.