<P> On August 15, 2017, graffiti that Reuters reported "appeared to read' fuck law"' was spray painted in red on one of the columns . The initials "M + E" were etched on the same pillar . A "mild, gel - type architectural paint stripper" was used to remove the paint without damaging the memorial . However, the etching was deemed "permanent damage ." A Smithsonian Institution directional sign several blocks away was also defaced . </P> <P> On September 18, 2017, Nurtilek Bakirov from Kyrgyzstan was arrested when a police officer saw him vandalizing the Memorial at around 1: 00 PM EDT . Bakirov used a penny to carve the letters "HYPT MAEK" in what appeared to Cyrillic letters into the fifth pillar on the north side . As of 20 September 2017, police do not know what the words mean, although there is a possibility that they contain a reference to the vandal's name . Court documents indicate that the letters cannot be completely removed, but could be polished at the cost of approximately $2,000 . A conservator for the National Park Service said that the stone would weather over time, helping to obscure the letters, although she characterized it as "permanent damage". </P> <P> As one of the most prominent American monuments, the Lincoln Memorial is often featured in books, films, and television shows that take place in Washington; by 2003 it had appeared in over 60 films, and in 2009, Mark S. Reinhart compiled some short sketches of dozens of uses of the Memorial in film and television . </P> <P> Some examples of films include Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, in a key scene where the statue and its inscription provide inspiration to freshman Senator Jefferson Smith, played by James Stewart--the Park Service did not want director Frank Capra to film at the Memorial, so he sent a large crew elsewhere as a distraction while a smaller crew filmed Stewart and Jean Arthur at the Memorial; The Day the Earth Stood Still, a science fiction film in which the alien Klaatu visits the Memorial and is impressed by Lincoln's words carved there; the 2001 version of Planet of the Apes; X-Men: First Class; the 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon, where Megatron destroys the statue of Lincoln and then sits on the chair as a throne; and the 2016 horror movie The Purge: Election Year, in which the Lincoln Memorial is shown with dead and burning bodies on the steps and the columns defaced with giant letters that spell out "PURGE", written in human blood . </P>

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