A statue of Melania Trump in Slovenia has been removed after it was set on fire by vandals.
The statue erected near Sevnica in central Slovenia was set alight on July 5, Slovenian Police told CNN on Thursday.
The statue was removed on July 5, and Downey said he asked locals not to distribute photos of the scorched figure so it did not become a “violent meme.”
Downey has filed a police report but said he is only interested in finding the attackers, not pressing charges against them.
“I would be curious to see who did it,” he told CNN. “Someone doesn’t like what it represents or how it looks,” said Downey, who believes that the timing of the attack — on the weekend of US Independence Day — means it was not a random “drunken act.”
Slovenian Police said it was considering the case as “damage to property which is a criminal offense.”
Downey has since posted a video of the statue being removed on his Instagram account.
Downey previously told CNN that he was inspired to create the piece due to what he called the “anti-immigration narrative” coming out of the US and from Donald Trump in particular.
He said it was a “contradiction” that the US President, who has made halting immigration a cornerstone of his presidency, is married to an immigrant whose first language is not English.
