Charleston Confederate Statue Spray-Painted With 'Black Lives Matter'

Police say someone spray-painted the message "Black Lives Matter" on a statue memorializing the Confederacy in Charleston several days after a shooting at a historic black church.

Police spokesman Charles Francis said city workers used a tarp to cover up the graffiti marking the stone pedestal beneath the statue. He said he didn't know when the graffiti was spray-painted there, but said it would be cleaned off.

He said police are investigating.

Photos on local news websites from before the tarp was put up show the phrase written in bright red paint, along with the message "THIS IS THE PROBLEM. #RACIST."

The pedestal's permanent inscription is "To the Confederate Defenders of Charleston."