"Jesus at Daley Plaza" consists of devotional posters, a 19-ft. cross and a 10-ft. statue of the resurrected Jesus. Vandals shattered the plexiglass protecting the posters and tore holes through the image of Jesus overnight.
The religious display is sponsored by the Thomas Moore Society, a Chicago-based public interest law firm. It was supposed to stay up through Monday, April 28. The display has gone up at midnight on Good Friday for the last eight years, marking the beginning of an annual nine-day prayer vigil to honor the death and resurrection of Christ.
This is the first time the display has been defaced. Chicago police did not release any information about who may be responsible as of early Thursday morning.
A Thomas Moore spokesperson said this display is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment. But the destruction of the display is not protected under first amendment rights.
