MIDTOWN — The Mexican Consulate was vandalized with a splash of red paint Tuesday morning, possibly in connection to protests about the disappearance of 43 Mexican students last year, police said.
The consulate, located at 27 E. 39th St., near Madison Avenue is regularly guarded by NYPD officers, but during a shift change about 3 a.m. a group of people threw a container full of paint at the front door, said a consulate spokesman Carlos Gerardo Izzo Rivera.
They threw the paint after one guard left but before the next arrived, Rivera said.
There were no immediate arrests, police said.
Investigators were reviewing security footage, police said.
Rivera believes the vandalism was connected to a series of protests that have taken place outside the consulate regarding the Mexican government's handling of the 2014 disappearance of 43 students.
The students are believed to have been kidnapped by a drug gang, killed and incinerated, according to reports.
Rivera reiterated his government's commitment to bringing those behind the disappearances to justice.
"Of course, we are concerned and shocked," he said.
Police kept one of the consulate's two front doors closed as they investigated the paint that hit it.
"[But] this doesn’t alter the daily operation of the consulate. The consulate is operating normally," Rivera said.
