Battle to stop new Banksy being destroyed

Under threat: the Banksy stencil in Gillett Square, Dalston
Rashid Razaq13 April 2012

Street artist Banksy has created a new artwork on a building where two of his creations were jet-washed away by a council.

The stencil, in Gillett Square in Dalston, is to be painted over by Hackney council but a community organisation, Hackney Co-operative Developments, which owns the leasehold of the building, is set to take legal action to stop the council cleaning it off.

HCD executive director Adam Hart said: "I am shocked to hear of such an unpopular and unnecessary act of vandalism against a valuable work of art. Banksy is something of a folk hero."

The stencil shows a boy holding a stereo and a teddy bear.

Alan Laing, Hackney's Cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: "Our position is not to make a judgment call on whether graffiti is art or not, our task is to keep streets clean."

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