A new fight to preserve a well-known Mission District landmark is underway after several murals were painted over in an alley between 17th and 18th streets and Mission and Valencia streets.

Clarion Alley is known for the dozens of murals that fill the space. But the Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP) says it is heartbroken and furious after someone painted over several of those public art pieces on Aug. 24.

“When something like that happens, it’s like really painful because you know the amount of hours it’s spent to design the mural,” said Nyia Luna, an artist with Graffiti Camp for Girls.

Three murals were painted over with white paint, and a fourth was partially destroyed, prompting artists to demand answers and restitution.

One of the destroyed works was painted this year by Luna and Graffiti Camp for Girls, a nonprofit that teaches young girls to create public art. After learning what happened, Luna spent more than six hours and about $100 to create a new piece.

“It’s a community space, you know, people from around here, locals and then people from across the globe come here to see these murals,” Luna said.

Witness and artist Doug Rhodes said he spotted a man rolling white paint over the art and confronted him.

“I saw some guy rolling over the murals with white paint with a roller, and I told him to stop, and he said, ‘Oh, my boss told me to do this,’” Rhodes said.

Rhodes eventually got the worker to stop.

“It’s always infuriating when art gets destroyed out of ignorance,” Rhodes said. “That’s my reaction, like, come on guys, do some due diligence here. Don’t just paint over it.”

CAMP representatives said they received no warning before the incident.

In an email exchange, Makras Real Estate Group—the realty company associated with the property—said the property owner received a call regarding graffiti and sent a team to remove it. Makras stated they were unaware of the incident until CAMP alerted them.

Ivy Jeanne, co-director of the Clarion Alley Mural Project, said the organization is looking into its options to help protect the art moving forward.

“This project has been around since 1992, and we have built relationships over these decades with various landlords to paint murals,” Jeanne said. “So it’s very well established that there’s a mural project, and it’s known that that wasn’t graffiti.”

Jeanne added that the project hopes to maintain its mission despite the setback.

“There’s been over 900 murals, and they have a lot to do with social justice, equity, and so that’s what we hope,” Jeanne said. “We hope to continue to flourish as a project.”

For people who work nearby, the loss extends beyond the physical paint on the walls.

“A lot of the history of like activism and, you know, again just like having diversity,” said local worker Imani Outen. “I feel like just having those values kind of like painted over or just washed away is just, you know, kind of unfortunate and just disempowering to like the legacy that’s been built for what it’s known for.”

Prior to the incident, CAMP had already launched a $35,000 fundraising campaign to mark its upcoming 35th year and support its ongoing efforts in the community.