Banksy's London Rhino Mural Defaced in Charlton
A new artwork by street artist Banksy in south-east London has been vandalised. The piece, depicting a rhinoceros charging a Nissan Micra with a traffic cone on its bonnet, was spray-painted with a tag by a man wearing a balaclava at approximately 7.45pm on Thursday.
Stephanie Lester, a witness who spoke to the BBC, described the vandal as walking away from a "jeering crowd". The mural, which had earlier appeared in Charlton, was confirmed as a Banksy on the artist's Instagram account.
The defaced rhino marked the eighth new London piece by Banksy in as many days. Another witness, Devan Vadukul, told the BBC that a "random youth" in a balaclava "brazenly walked up and defaced the installation with a graffiti tag".
"The whole incident took place within less than 30 seconds before he disappeared with another male accomplice further down the road," he added.
This incident comes just a day after Banksy painted swimming piranhas onto a City of London Police sentry box, which was first spotted on Sunday morning. These translucent fish formed the seventh piece in an animal-themed art series across the capital.
On Monday, the City of London Corporation removed the piranha artwork to a "safe location". A spokesperson stated: "We have moved the artwork to Guildhall Yard to ensure it is properly protected and open for the public to view safely. A permanent home for the piece will be decided in due course."
This spree began on 5 August with a goat appearing on the side of a building near Kew Bridge. It continued with an image of two elephants touching trunks on the side of a house in Chelsea on Tuesday.
Three monkeys hanging from a bridge in Brick Lane then drew crowds on Wednesday.
On Thursday, a howling wolf on a satellite dish, appearing to be howling at the moon, was installed on a garage roof in Peckham. However, just hours later, men were seen taking down the artwork and carrying it off down Rye Lane. Banksy's press team confirmed that the artist was neither connected to nor endorsed the theft of the wolf design and had "no knowledge as to the dish's current whereabouts".
Locals in Walthamstow awoke to two pelicans fishing above a fish shop on Friday.
On Saturday, a stencil of a cat having a stretch appeared on an empty billboard in Cricklewood.
Crowds booed as the Cricklewood artwork was dismantled by three men who claimed they had been "hired" by a "contracting company" to take down the billboard for safety reasons.
On Monday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC discharged a jury at the Old Bailey after they failed to reach a verdict in a death by careless driving trial. He suggested that the jury might enjoy the weather with a visit to a nearby Banksy artwork.
