Surrey rainbow crosswalk defaced with white paint

Surrey RCMP are investigating after arainbow crosswalk was defaced on Sunday.

White paint was splattered on the crosswalk at Old Yale Road and University Drive, just 10days after it was installed.

RCMPsaythey believe it wasvandalismand are hoping to findthe suspect using footage fromclosed-circuit cameras.

"It's very disappointing," spokesperson Cpl. Elenore Sturko said.

A city crew wasdispatchedMonday morning to remove the paint using high-pressure steam.

Ray Kerr, the city's manager of engineering operations, said he expected the crewwould finish by the end of the day.

Kerr said the crewtypicallydoes graffiti removal, so the cleanup came at no extra cost.

One of the crew members, David Marr, said passersby hadapproached him throughout the morning.

"People areaskingwhy we're cleaning the rainbow," he said. "I think they're against it. Myresponseis you should have an open mind."

'They ruined it'

Other observershad mixed reactions.

"I didn't quite like it much, but we accept it," said ThereseSchmidt. "They shouldn't have done that. They ruined it."

Annette Bergunder said she was sad the crosswalk had been defaced.

"People have to destroy something that's so pretty. It took a lot of money and work," she said.

The crosswalk cost $8,500 and is expected to last five years, Kerr said.It was painted in advance of Surrey's Pride celebrations, set to take placeJune 30at Holland Park.

Other rainbow crosswalks in B.C. have been defaced in recent years, including one in Fort Langley that was vandalized last summer justhours after it was painted.

The Surrey mayor's office declined comment, saying it didn't want to give more attention to the act.

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With files from Tina Lovgreen and Yvette Brend