CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Chicago’s famous Buckingham Fountain will be closed until further notice after an anti-war demonstration overnight, the Chicago Park District announced on Saturday.
Photos provided to WBBM Newsradio by Colin Hinkle, who owns the Chicago-based Soaring Badger Productions, showed the waters of the 1.5 million-gallon Buckingham Fountain had been turned a bright red.
The words “Gaza is bleeding” were painted in large letters on the paving stones around the fountain in Grant Park. The fountain has been the scene of protests over the war in recent weeks.
“I was just surprised — given the fact that most of the area is closed now for NASCAR and all of the construction going on for that — that someone was able to get in there overnight … and to be able to get away with that,” Hinkle told WBBM.
Part of the stone on the edge of the fountain was stained dark red where the substance was spilled.
Shortly after 9:30 a.m., the park district announced on social media that the fountain would be closed