#Black Lives Matter mural vandalized hours after it was painted in Vermont

A Black Lives Matter mural outside Vermont’s statehouse was vandalized just hours after being painted, police said.

The mural, painted Saturday in Montpelier by more than a hundred volunteers, was smeared early Sunday with several gallons of dirt and oil, leaving one of its 25-foot, yellow letters on State Street defaced, Montpelier police said.

A “considerable amount” of graffiti was also found on a sidewalk nearby but referenced “government spending” and did not appear to be connected to the mural, Police Chief Anthony Facos told The Post on Monday.

“$400 million gone,” one spray-painted sidewalk message read.

A person of interest has been identified – a white man in his 50s — but no arrests had been made as of early Monday, Facos said.

“We’re hoping to have closure fairly soon,” the chief continued. “There’s still evidence to be processed and more investigation needs to be conducted.”

More than 100 volunteers turned out Saturday to paint the mural, which will need to be “touched up” after the weekend vandalism, Facos said.

“The community is actually committed to repainting it so it doesn’t look worn out,” the chief said, adding that State Street outside the Vermont Statehouse will need to be closed a second time.

Investigators are now working to identify a man in his 50s who wore a dark, brimmed hat and had scruffy facial hair in connection to the vandalism, police said Sunday.

“He may have been present downtown and in the area of the Statehouse during the mural painting the previous day,” police said in a statement, adding that he was caught “in the act” on surveillance camera.

The Montpelier City Council unanimously approved the mural, which was painted Saturday with materials purchased by community volunteers, the Burlington Free Press reported.