A mural painted to honor Iryna Zarutska — the Ukrainian refugee who was murdered while riding a North Carolina train — is being taken down following public outrage in Providence, Rhode Island.

On Tuesday, a construction crew was seen removing the partly finished mural from the exterior of The Dark Lady, an LGBTQ+ club in downtown Providence. The mural, which was painted on canvas, was lowered to the ground, folded up and taken away, according to WJAR-TV.

Artist Ian Gaudreau confirmed that the artwork would be removed in response to local backlash. “A lot of people voiced their frustrations, and voices were heard, and the work is coming down as a reaction to that,” Gaudreau told WJAR-TV on Monday.

The removal came after complaints from residents and elected officials. The office of Mayor Brett Smiley stated that he wanted the artwork taken down, describing it as “divisive and does not represent Providence.”

“The murder of the individual depicted in this mural was a devastating tragedy, but the misguided, isolating intent of those funding murals like the one across the country is divisive and does not represent Providence,” Smiley said in a statement.

He added that he would continue to “encourage our community to support local artists whose work brings us closer together rather than divide us.”

Chairman of the Narragansett Republican Party Anthony D’Ellena launched a petition to keep the mural of Zarutska in Providence.

“This is exactly what Democrats do — they try to erase the memory of their victims and they don’t fix their soft-on-crime policies,” D’Ellena told WPRI-TV. “They erase the evidence, so no one sees the deadly price of their policies.”

“I want a local business here in Rhode Island to see this petition and to invite the artist to do a mural on their business,” he said.

The mural project originated from a pledge by Eoghan McCabe, CEO of the AI customer service company Intercom. On September 9, 2025, McCabe posted on X that he would donate $500,000 to paint 50 memorial murals across the country in Zarutska’s honor. The following day, he announced that funding for 300 murals had been raised and that organizers were in contact with 800 artists. Elon Musk replied to the post, pledging an additional $1 million to the initiative.

Zarutska, a 23-year-old refugee who fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion, was stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack while riding the Lynx Blue Line light rail in Charlotte, North Carolina, last year.

The suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, faces federal charges of violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation system resulting in death — a capital offense.

“Iryna was riding home on the train when a deranged monster, who had been arrested over a dozen times and was released through no-cash bail, stood up and viciously slashed a knife through her neck and body,” President Trump said.