NYC Mayor de Blasio paints BLM street mural outside Trump Tower

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio joined with activists to bring the Black Lives Matter street mural outside Trump Tower yesterday.

The mayor, alongside his wife, other politicians and volunteers, painted the message in bright yellow paint on Fifth Avenue, between 56th and 57th streets.

"Our city isn’t just painting the words on Fifth Avenue. We’re committed to the meaning of the message," de Blasio tweeted.

The Black Lives Matter street murals are set to be painted in all five boroughs in the following weeks, according to the mayor's office.

President Donald Trump countered on Twitter last week, calling out de Blasio for cutting the city's police budget by $1 billion yet continues to paint the expensive artwork.

"This will further antagonize New York’s Finest, who LOVE New York," Trump pushed back. "Spend this money fighting crime instead!"

“We are not denigrating anything. We are liberating Fifth Avenue," de Blasio had responded in his remarks outside Trump Tower.

The mayor went on to question who built the city and who built the nation. "There is no America without black America," de Blasio claimed.

While de Blasio was busy defunding the police, gun violence was on the rise in his own city.

Shootings increased by 130 percent in June compared to the same time last year, according to New York Police Department's monthly crime briefing as reported by CBS News.

"The sharp increase in shootings and violence in New York puts innocent people at risk and tears at the fabric of life in our city," said NYPD police commissioner Dermot Shea in the briefing.

Shea said the NYPD has been challenged by "deep budget cuts," referencing de Blasio's $1 billion reallocation.