FRANCE: Andres Serrano's Piss Christ Destroyed By Catholic Protesters

After weeks of demonstrations, yesterday Catholic protesters in France destroyed NYC artist Andres Serrano's classic and controversial Piss Christ. The UK Guardian reports:

The work has previously been shown without incident in France, but for the past two weeks Catholic groups have campaigned against it, culminating in hundreds of people marching through Avignon on Saturday in protest. Just after 11am on Sunday, four people in sunglasses entered the gallery where the exhibition was being held. One took a hammer from his sock and threatened security staff. A guard restrained one man but the remaining members of the group managed to smash an acrylic screen and slash the photograph with what police believe was a screwdriver or ice pick. They then destroyed another photograph, of nuns' hands in prayer.

Protests against the photograph had also gained the support of France's far-right National Front party. The gallery's owner says the destroyed artwork will remain on display "so people can see what barbarians can do."

LGBT Book Section Vandalized At Harvard

Harvard police say a section of LGBT books were destroyed in the university library by a vandal who doused the shelves with urine.

Security staff at Lamont Library said in a report filed with campus police on Friday that it appeared someone poured urine on the books on Nov. 24. An empty bottle was found nearby. A police spokesman tells The Crimson student newspaper that all the books were about lesbian, gay and same-sex marriage issues. Library spokeswoman Beth Brainard says it took so long to report the incident because staff wanted to assess the value of the books. She says they were worth several thousand dollars and will be discarded.

And this accomplished, what?

LOS ANGELES: Latino AIDS Memorial Vandalized With Yellow Paint

Karen Ocamb reports that the Wall Las Memorias in Los Angeles has been splashed with yellow paint by unknown vandals.

The Wall Las Memorias – an inspirational art project dedicated as a Latino AIDS monument on World AIDS Day in 2004 – has been vandalized. Apparently a mother went to see the name of her son on the Wall in Highland Park and found a section of the mural splashed in yellow paint. The Wall’s founder Richard Zaldivar told me: “The vandalism was done to the section of the AIDS mural that depicts a child saying, ‘I once knew a child with AIDS.’ And so it is really sad and very troubling that someone would use this opportunity to damage a piece of art that was created for the purpose HIV prevention and education to our community.

Las Memorias Project will update the story on their Facebook page.