Activists drape Statue of Liberty with 'Refugees Welcome' banner

The Statue of Liberty became a symbol of protest this week when activists unfurled a banner that said “Refugees Welcome” on the New York City monument.

The banner, which was nearly a metre tall and more than six metres wide, appeared Tuesday from the statue’s observation deck and was removed by park rangers about an hour later, according to the BBC.

Hanging signage of any kind from the statue is illegal, and police from the U.S. National Park Service police is investigating the incident.

An activist group calling themselves Alt Lady Liberty has told multiple news outlets the banner was theirs. They issued the following statement to CNN:

“Almost all Americans have descendants from somewhere else. Immigrants and refugees make this country great. And turning away refugees, like we did to Anne Frank, does not make us great. Refugees are welcome here, Muslims are welcome here and immigrants are welcome here.”

One the activists allegedly involved in the demonstration spoke with the website Fusion and described what it was like hanging the banner.

“We left, and as we were taking the ferry home, [the banner] was still hanging,” he told Fusion. “I would imagine that the National Park Service staffers — who also make this country great, who are working there — I would be surprised if anyone who cares about the history of the Statue of Liberty did not agree with what we were saying.”

The red and white banner was hung as U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration announced new plans to begin aggressively enforcing immigration laws in the hopes of arresting and deporting the millions of illegal immigrants who now live in the U.S.

This development follows the U.S. president’s executive order to restrict travel access to foreigners from seven Muslim-majority countries while putting a hold on taking in Syrian refugees. The order was denied in court and the administration is reportedly considering a new draft to reimpose the measures.

Despite immigration being a divisive issue in the U.S., there seemed to be support for the demonstration online.