00:00 This story contains strong language, viewer discretion is advised.
00:05 Hello, thanks for watching, I'm Jack with London World.
00:08 Here in Brick Lane, one of the capital's most famous spots.
00:12 Well known for its street art, the road has recently been a battleground for graffiti artists.
00:18 Behind me were 24 Chinese characters painted in red,
00:22 supposedly supporting the Chinese government party along Brick Lane in London's East End.
00:28 It's not known whether the language promoting the Chinese government's values were ironic or not,
00:33 however within hours of appearing, over the weekend of the 5th of August,
00:38 graffiti was put up in response with messages that read "Free Taiwan" and "Free Tibet".
00:44 It has since been covered by Tower Hamlets Council, however since I've been here today,
00:54 another street artist has articulated his point of view fairly clearly.
00:59 Just tell me a little bit about what you've just put up behind you, why you've done that.
01:09 I was reading the news this morning, reading the news online,
01:13 and I saw a thing saying some Chinese students had come down and written a load of pro-Chinese propaganda on the wall.
01:20 All the principles are right, socialism etc, but it feels like it's been a propaganda thing driven by the CCP,
01:27 the Chinese Communist Party, to try and make themselves look good when they're anything but good.
01:32 So I came down here to write "Fuck the CCP" because yeah.
01:36 One of the original artists, Yi Qiu, has taken to social media after concerns for their family's safety.
01:43 He actually wrote that he holds no political stance,
01:48 the work was aimed to provide discussion on a diverse environment and people's attitudes towards them.
01:55 Despite the work being covered up, plenty of people both from the UK and China, either tourists or residents,
02:01 have visited where the artwork once stood and it's been taking plenty of photos all day.
02:07 [BLANK_AUDIO]
