Council WILL return part of Banksy’s new Valentine’s Day artwork once it has been ‘made safe’ – after sparking outrage by removing fridge-freezer just hours after new mural appeared

• Painting was claimed by the Bristol-born graffiti artist Banksy on Tuesday
• Contractors moved in to remove the freezer which is a vital part of the piece 
• But the council has now confirmed the freezer will return once it is ‘safe’ 

A Kent council has confirmed it will return a freezer removed from Banksy’s latest work once it has been ‘made safe’ amid public outcry after officials took it away from the graffiti artist’s Valentine’s Day work on domestic abuse.

The artwork appeared on the side of a building in Margate on February 13 before being confirmed as an original Banksy by the artist on Instagram yesterday.

Titled ‘Valentine’s Day mascara’, it features a woman in a blue pinny and yellow washing-up gloves with a swollen eye and broken tooth. 

It appears she has just pushed her partner, whose feet are also depicted, into the chest freezer. 

Alongside the painting and freezer, the artist also posed objects including a broken garden chair, blue crate and a smashed beer bottle. A cooking pot was also spotted at the scene.

The new artwork by street artist Banksy, titled ‘Valentine’s Day Mascara’ on the side of a building in Margate, Kent, before officials moved in

Just hours after Banksy shared the artwork on his Instagram page, contractors moved in and carted away the freezer that formed a vital part of the piece.

Video shared online shows two contractors removing parts of the physical aspects of the painting before stepping in to remove the freezer itself

These, too, were removed by contractors working for Thanet Council.

Local residents and visitors reacted with shock and anger when the council showed up just hours after the artwork’s installation to remove the items – but a council spokesperson has since confirmed that the freezer will return. 

A Thanet Council spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘We are aware that the graffiti artist known as Banksy has confirmed that the mural that has appeared recently in Margate is his. 

‘The graffiti is situated on a wall of a privately owned property. A fridge freezer which is believed to have been part of the installation has been removed by council operatives on the grounds of safety as it was on public land.

‘The fridge freezer is now in storage and will be returned once it has been made safe to the public. We will be contacting the owner of the property to discuss the options to preserve the artwork for the district.’

Council officials removed part of Banksy’s latest painting on Tuesday just hours after it was unveiled by the artist.

The artwork, which appeared on the back of a building just off Grosvenor Place in Margate, Kent, saw crowds of Banksy fans flock to the seaside town to pose for photos by the painting, which depicts a battered 1950s housewife chucking her male partner into a fridge-freezer.

One artist was seen painting a copy of the Banksy in his own depiction on canvas on Tuesday.

Just hours later, contractors moved in and carried away the freezer on health and safety grounds. 

Video shared online shows two contractors removing parts of the physical aspects of the painting before stepping in to remove the freezer itself. 

Dan Bambridge-Higgins, who captured the moment the freezer was taken away, tweeted: ‘You can’t get them to sort out any fly tipping but hilariously sad that the instant reaction to a new Banksy in Margate by @ThanetCouncil is to remove it!’ 

One tenant said: ‘I’m absolutely upset because it’s not really nice. It was part of the art, they should be very happy because Margate could get bigger attention, positive attention.

‘Why did they move those parts? It’s just silly.’

People wearing hi-vis jackets in Margate, Kent removing a chest freezer

The Banksy art piece being dismantled in Margate after the council ruled it was a health and safety risk

She claimed she asked the people who removed the items why they were doing so and they replied: ‘Someone told them on the council, they are just doing the task, it’s not their idea but they must do it.’

Megan Simmonds, 29, lives just metres away from Banksy’s latest artwork, called the council’s actions ‘bizarre’.

‘The council have removed a chair, a saucepan and have just taken the fridge in a van,’ she said. 

‘It seems bizarre, it’s just the painting left. The fridge was definitely a big part of the piece.’

In the image, the woman also has a swollen eye and a missing tooth

The new artwork by street artist Banksy, titled ‘Valentine’s Day Mascara’, was quickly intercepted by council workers

The painting, which many have speculated is off Grosvenor Place in Margate, Kent, appears to show a 1950s housewife wearing a blue pinny and yellow washing up gloves pushing her partner into a chest freezer.

Many have speculated that the latest Bansky has appeared off Grosvenor Place in Margate, Kent

Locals in Margate have begun to gather at the site of the latest Banksy artwork 

Sightseers gathered at the property off Grosvenor Place in Margate, Kent

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She and her partner Joss Lavender, 31, may have spotted the artist themselves when they saw a white van and a man in a ‘big orange coat’ on the Sunday morning. When they left their home, they spotted the artwork.

‘I thought it was Banksy straight away, and there was another guy photographing it which made me believe it was someone well known,’ Megan said. 

‘I guess it’s exciting. This area can be a bit dull at this time of year and it’s bringing a bit of light.

‘It’s an important and brutal message. There isn’t enough help out there for domestic violence often leading people to take it into their own hands.’

The original post to Banksy’s 11.8 million Instagram followers confirming the piece was his has already generated hundreds of thousands of likes and comments. 

The title is a play on the infamous prohibition-era Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929, when seven members and associates of Chicago’s North Side Gang were gunned down. 

It is believed the artwork is a means of shedding light on the issues of violence against women.   

According to the Office for National Statistics: ‘In the year ending March 2020, the Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated 1.6 million women aged 16 to 74 years in England and Wales experienced domestic abuse, around 7 per cent of the female population.’

Local artist Pete Brown, 55, came to paint the sea but instead opted to capture the scene of the artwork

Sightseers flocked to the site of the latest Banksy which was confirmed by the artist yesterday

Property tenant, Polla Maria Oberscziam, stands in the doorway of her home where the new artwork is now situated 

It is believed the artwork is a means of shedding light on the issues of violence against women

Banksy has used Kent buildings as his canvas on more than one occasion – recently in other seaside towns such as Folkestone and Dover. 

His Brexit-themed Dover piece portrayed the image of a workman on a ladder chipping away one of the stars of the EU flag. The artwork, which was valued at £1 million, was controversially painted over, leaving a giant white square in its place.  

Banksy has previously painted artwork on Valentine’s Day. In 2020, he confirmed artwork that appeared in Bristol of a girl firing red flowers made with spray-painted ivy from a catapult was his. 

The piece was extra special as it featured 3D flowers attached to the wall. 

The piece was subsequently vandalised, which prompted the owners of the house on which the graffiti was stencilled to cover over one part of the ruined artwork while encasing the other in a transparent box to prevent further damage.

A brand new tag depicting a masked man attempting to pry away the covering with a crowbar appeared at the site last year, fuelling speculation that Banksy himself may have reappeared to graffiti the same location almost two years on.

However, nothing was confirmed as the artist did not post anything about it on his account. 

In December, the anonymous graffiti artist announced they had created 50 screenprints which would be sold to raise funds for a charity supporting the people of Ukraine. 

Banksy previously confirmed they had spent time in Ukraine after posting a video of an artist spray-painting designs in the war-torn country and speaking to locals.

In a piece the artist shared online, a female gymnast can be seen balancing on her hands on rubble at the bottom of a an apartment building, which has been completely gutted by Russian shelling. 

Speculation had been mounting that the anonymous graffiti icon was in the war-torn country after a series of murals appeared in the town of Borodyanka, about an hour’s drive north-west of the capital.

Pictured: The Banksy piece in Dover, a busy port that connects England with Calais in France

The original artwork was revealed on Valentine’s Day 2020 in the Barton Hill area of Bristol, Banksy’s home town

Another showed two children using a metal tank trap as a seesaw, while a separate piece in nearby Irpin showed a rhythmic gymnast waving a ribbon while wearing a neck brace. 

However, the mural which Banksy chose to share with his Instagram followers was that of the female gymnast balancing on a damaged building.

He later shared a video on his Instagram account which showed him completing the artworks in Ukraine.  

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