ART

Controversial N.Y. Mural Vandalized: Vandals lobbing paint-filled containers labeled with swastikas defaced a controversial six-story Lower Manhattan mural depicting revolutionary heroes, authorities said. Large white splotches of oil-based paint partially obscured images of Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman and Fidel Castro. The 80-foot-wide mural was painted during the past two years and unveiled Nov. 19. “What was put on the bottle was a clear indication of the racist and ultra-rightist character of this cowardly act,” said spokesman Michael Shur of the Pathfinder Mural Project. Critics have said a New York arts program should not have contributed $500 to the mural project because it includes portraits of such anti-American revolutionary heroes as Castro, Che Guevara and Leon Trotsky.