SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Officials in Orlando are outraged that the state Transportation Department painted over a rainbow crosswalk outside the former Pulse Nightclub. The street art was a memorial to the 49 people killed in the mass shootings at the LBGTQ+ (ph) club in 2016. As Joe Byrnes with Central Florida Public Media reports, locals protested the surprise erasure this week.

JOE BYRNES, BYLINE: About 200 people showed up to protest the day after the removal of the colorful crosswalk.

(SOUNDBITE OF HORNS HONKING)

BYRNES: At the demonstration, Democratic state Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith called it a hostile act and a, quote, "insult to the families and survivors of the Pulse tragedy."

CARLOS GUILLERMO SMITH: Somewhere nearby, sometime very soon, there will be a mural painted. It will

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