LONDON (AP) 鈥� A man suspected of stealing an artwork by of a stop sign adorned with three military drones, was arrested Saturday, London police said.
A man in his 20s was in custody on suspicion of theft and criminal damage, the Metropolitan police said.
The sign was taken less than an hour after the elusive street artist posted a photo of the work on his Instagram page Friday.
Video showed a man with bolt cutters climbing up on a bicycle to remove the work from a sign post on a street corner in the Peckham area of south London while another man steadied the bike. The man who cut the sign free then ran off with it in his hand.
A voice on a video of the incident could be heard saying, 鈥渋t makes me so annoyed,鈥� as the man ran away.
A witness who only wanted to be called Alex told the PA news agency that the small crowd of people that had shown up to view the work stood around watching in awe as the scene unfolded.
鈥淲e said, 鈥榃hat are you doing? But no one really knew what to do, we sort of just watched it happen," Alex said. "We were all a bit bemused; there was some honking of car horns.鈥�
Jasmine Ali, deputy leader of the local borough council, called for the piece to be returned.
鈥淚t should not have been removed and we鈥檇 like it back so everyone in the community can enjoy Banksy鈥檚 brilliant work," Ali said.
The stop sign was replaced.
Banksy鈥檚 thought-provoking and satirical art often takes aim at war. Many of his followers on Instagram interpreted the work as calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
The Associated Press
