Yahoo Finance Council paints over Black Lives Matter mural after complaint about 'offensive graffiti'
An English city council has apologised after Black Lives Matter graffiti was painted over following a complaint.
The street art was created without permission in a Norwich underpass in support of the BLM movement following the death of George Floyd in the US.
It read: “Norwich against racism. Black Lives Matter. All cops are accountable”.
But it was covered up with black paint by a council contractor on Thursday.
Norwich City Council has since admitted that a “terrible misunderstanding” involving its complaint system and a contractor led to the work, located in the Pottergate area of the city, being covered up.
In a statement, the authority said: “Yesterday, a complaint was made about offensive graffiti.
“It was made online and went straight through an automated system to our contractor who, unfortunately, took action to paint over the mural.
“This has been a terrible misunderstanding and we will urgently work with our contractor to correct it.”
The council added that it had lit up its city hall in in purple lights on Thursday to show solidarity with protestors following the death of Floyd in Minneapolis last week.
The 46-year-old died after a white police officer pressed a knee onto his neck for nine minutes – almost three of them after the one-time bouncer had fallen unconscious.
The incident has sparked mass protests in more than 70 cities across the US and several here in the UK.
The Norwich City Council statement continued: “We do not consider this in any way to be offensive graffiti, we consider it an important work of art.
“We denounce racism in the strongest terms and stand in solidarity with members of the BAME community in Norwich, across the country and globally.
“We would like to commission the artist to reinstate the artwork.”
The artist, who goes by the name Knapple, said she would repaint the mural on Friday.
She said: “I think it shows a lack of compassion, understanding by the contractors, they didn’t think to query it?”
