Black Lives Matter mural near White House temporarily removed

The main Black Lives Matter mural in the nation’s capital, just a couple of blocks from the White House, has been temporarily removed, though city officials say it will be repainted by the end of the week.

The large yellow letters at Black Lives Matter Plaza on 16th Street leading up to the White House were paved over as of Tuesday, but Mayor Muriel Bowser’s (D) office confirmed that it will be repainted in the coming days, according to multiple reports.

Washington, D.C., residents and journalists took to social media Tuesday to note the absence of the bright lettering.

The iconic yellow lettering of Black Lives Matter Plaza is covered by a fresh coat of asphalt in Washington, paving the way for what @MayorBowser has described as a permanent art installation on 16th Street near the White House. But a striking sight this morning. pic.twitter.com/AmT1TqD26t

— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) May 11, 2021

Underground electrical utility work is being done near the plaza, according to multiple reports, prompting street repairs that involved removing the letters that spell out Black Lives Matter.

Bowser told The Washington Post earlier this month that the District is planning to make the mural a permanent installation.

“We’re undergoing a process to make the installation more permanent, with lighting and landscaping and all the things that you expect in an iconic art installation,” the mayor said. 

The Washington, D.C., chapter of Black Lives Matter, which criticized the mural after it was first unveiled last year as a “performative distraction from real policy changes,” on Tuesday tweeted that Bowser’s “BLM performance has come to a close and set strike completed.”

This morning at Black Lives Matter Plaza in DC. @MayorBowser’s BLM performance has come to a close and set strike completed.

We now return to her regularly scheduled performances. pic.twitter.com/WZ1soLghwR

— Black Lives Matter DC (@DMVBlackLives) May 11, 2021

The Hill has reached out to Bowser’s office for comment.

The District’s Department of Transportation and Department of Public Works will oversee restoring the mural, The Washington Post reported.

Public works employees painted the large yellow letters last year as protests broke out across the country following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. The plaza has since become a hub for demonstrations in the District.