Second rainbow crossing covered in paint as police search for masked vandals

A second rainbow crossing has been vandalised in New Zealand this week, with police issuing a search warrant for a property believed to be linked to the three masked offenders caught on CCTV committing the act.

In the early hours of Thursday morning the individuals poured white paint onto the crossing on Karangahape Road in Auckland, arriving and leaving the scene in a car with no number plates.

Rain washed most of the paint away overnight but a video online showed white paint smeared at length down the street after vehicles unknowingly drove through the wet paint.

Nobody has taken responsibility for the vandalism but it is similar to another act carried out almost 500 kilometres away in Gisborne on Monday night, which was carried out by members of Destiny Church in protest of the local library having story-telling sessions hosted by drag queens.

Five members of religious group arrested at Gisborne protest

After Destiny Church members covered the rainbow crossing on Gisborne's Gladstone Road with white paint on Monday, many returned the following afternoon to hold a protest after authorities painted over the vandalism.

Five people involved were reportedly arrested, with a video surfacing online of senior church leader Leighton Packer speaking during the protests.

"We are excluded. When are we allowed to be straight? We have a right to be straight. Where are our straight flags?" she said, before she herself was arrested, which was met with cheers and applause from spectators.

Community condemn vandalism of rainbow crossing

There has been an outpouring of anger over the vandalism with it being called "hateful behaviour" online.

Auckland Central MP and Greens Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick called it "sad and bizarre" that members of the community are "suppressing simple symbols of visibility".

"You can’t paint over our existence. Love always wins," she wrote on X.

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She said she has been involved with relevant authorities to have the Auckland crossing fixed immediately.

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