Mayor Smiley: Mural for Slain Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Must Go

In Providence, Rhode Island, a mural was being painted to honor a Ukrainian woman slain on train. Iryna Zarutska was killed by insane career criminal on public transportation in North Carolina. This was to be lovely memorial to her life.

Providence Mayor Smiley calls for removal of a mural honoring 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska who was brutally stabbed to death on a train in Charlotte last summer. The Mayor called it “divisive.” Not sure what is divisive about a mural honoring a woman stabbed to death by a career…
— Brooke Taylor (@Brooketaylortv) March 30, 2026

This should be one thing the whole world could agree on.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — What began as a memorial for a slain Ukrainian refugee has transformed into a political lightning rod in the "Creative Capital," with Mayor Brett Smiley now calling for the artwork's removal.
The mural, located on the exterior of The Dark Lady, a prominent LGBTQ+ club downtown, remains incomplete as city officials and community members clash over its message and funding.

The Mayor’s Office confirmed Sunday that Smiley wants the mural of Iryna Zarutska taken down.
He later released the following statement: "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 county is I continue to encourage our community to support local artists whose work brings us closer together rather than divide us."

Not sure why the Mayor of Providence Rhode Island would deem a mural of a victim who has stabbed to death by a career habitual offender who should have been locked up!
Unreal that anyone would take offense to such a tribute to a homicide victim, albeit a Mayor https://t.co/x19RqtAVZ0
— Andy Kahan (@akahancrimesto1) March 30, 2026

So the rest of us have put up with a criminal plastered across the country as a “saint” right? https://t.co/1QTMi6xfJ9
— someonecares (@LisaPar05246789) March 30, 2026

Exactly! Because the Left said so.

Lots of crazy on the left, no doubt. https://t.co/nJQdtO0tcS
— shane mcqueen (@McqueenShane) March 30, 2026

Anyone on the left want to speak out against a politician trying to quash artistic expression? Free speech?

Anyone? Anyone? https://t.co/UP81X41Efd
— JCBliss (@JCBliss) March 30, 2026

In 2020 there was a mural titled "Say Their Names" located at 225 Westminster Street. This piece featured the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others, incorporated into a design that included flowers and a raised fist. So the notion that these type of…
— allie 𐩕 (@VoxAllie) March 30, 2026

They know the mural reminds people the Left is soft on crime and it gets innocent young women killed and they don't want that. Rather than fix their policy stances, they want to just bury the story and not think about it. The Right shouldn't let them.

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