Edward Snowden statue in NYC park

Edward Snowden statue in NYC park

NEW YORK CITY -- For a few hours Monday, a large, illegal statue of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden sat in a Brooklyn park, the work of creative renegades who quietly installed the piece overnight.

A small group carried the 100-pound sculpture into Fort Greene Park just before dawn and fused it to part of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument, a memorial to Revolutionary War soldiers, according to ANIMALNewYork.com.

The idea for the Snowden tribute was conceived about a year ago by two New York City-based artists with a history of pulling off notable public interventions, according to the site, which posts stories about arts, culture and news.

Snowden was working for Booz Allen Hamilton when he leaked details of U.S. surveillance programs to The Guardian and The Washington Post. The first reports were published in June 2013, setting off a global firestorm. Snowden, who was in hiding in Hong Kong at the time, fled to Moscow.

The artists who created the statue in his honor allowed ANIMALNewYork.com to document the installation of the work on the condition that the site hide their identities. In a statement, the creators said the piece was meant to recognize the sacrifice made by Snowden in "the fight against modern-day tyrannies."

"It would be a dishonor to those memorialized here to not laud those who protect the ideals they fought for, as Edward Snowden has by bringing the NSA's 4th-Amendment-violating surveillance programs to light," the artists said. "All too often, figures who strive to uphold these ideals have been cast as criminals rather than in bronze."
Their work wasn't seen for long though. The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, working with the New York City Police Department, covered the statue and later removed it Monday afternoon.

"The erection of any unapproved structure or artwork in a city park is illegal," said Maeri Ferguson, a spokesperson for the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

Cr. USA Today