Banksy has revealed a new mural criticising the French police’s use of tear gas on refugees in Calais.
The graffiti piece recreates the iconic poster from the Les Misérables musical, but with the girl tearing up as CS gas is pluming up from a canister beneath her. It appeared on the French embassy early on Sunday morning.
The gas canister at her feet makes reference to the tear gas used by the French police to evict about 1,500 refugees from one of the camps on January 5 and 6.
Tear gas is used by authorities to keep migrants away from lorries on the motorway, but French police insist it has not be used on families living in the Calais refugee camp.
It seems that someone wasn’t too impressed with Banksy’s satire, as it looks like someone may have tried to tear the mural from the wall where it has been painted in Knightsbridge.
In a first for Banksy, the artwork also includes a QR code, which allows viewers to access an online video of a police raid on ‘The Jungle’ and other refugee camps in Calais on January 5.
This is latest in a series of pieces which criticise Europe’s handling of the migrant crisis by Banksy.
In December, Banksy noted the fact that Apple wouldn’t have existed without the U.S. allowing in a ‘young man from Homs’ – the father of Steve Jobs – with a mural in a refugee camp picturing Jobs as a migrant.
Fair play to him.
