British street artist Banksy revealed his latest UK street artwork on Friday – only for two men to run off with it just hours later while being filmed by bemused onlookers.
The installation, a traffic stop sign covered with three aircraft resembling military drones, was erected at an intersection in Peckham, south London, on Friday morning.
An image was posted to Banksy’s social media just after midday.
But shortly afterwards bystanders filmed two men taking it down, one of them running off with the sign under his arm. Images and video of the removal were posted on social media.
“We said, ‘what are you doing?’ but no one really knew what to do, we sort of just watched it happen,” one 26-year-old local, named Alex, told Britain’s Press Association (PA).
“We were all a bit bemused … He ripped it off and ran across the road and ran away.
PA said it understood that Banksy was not behind the removal.
London’s Metropolitan police said they had not received any reports in relation to the incident.
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Southwark Council, the local authority responsible for services there – including street signage – did not respond to a request for comment.
It not the first time the famously enigmatic artist’s works have been removed soon after appearing.
A mural depicting a 1950s-style housewife with a swollen eye and a missing tooth seemingly shoving her male partner into a real chest freezer briefly appeared in Margate, southeast England, before being promptly removed by local officials.
It re-emerged in September in the foyer of “The Art of Banksy” exhibition in central London, where it can be viewed for free.
The exhibition features other famous Banksy pieces, including Girl With Balloon, Flower Thrower and Rude Copper as well as focusing on his other recent works addressing the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Meanwhile, a rare nugget of information about the elusive global art phenomenon emerged last month in an unearthed 2003 BBC interview, in which he revealed his first name as “Robbie”.