British street artist Banksy has painted a new controversial piece calling out the French government for its mistreatment of refugees in the infamous Calais camp, also known as "the Jungle."
The image, which is painted near the French Embassy in London, features the iconic image of the young girl from the musical "Les Misérables" with tears streaming down her face and the bottom half of her body obscured by gas.
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Near the bottom of the piece is a QR code, reports the Guardian, which allows viewers to access a video of a raid carried out on refugee camps by French police on Jan 5.
The piece is to be dismantled Monday, according to Mashable.
Builders cover a Banksy artwork shortly before being told to take it down from the building opposite the French embassy on January 25, 2016, in London, England.
Carl Court via Getty Images
Banksy's protest comes after reports in September showed French police using tear gas on refugees housed in "the Jungle." A police spokesman, Steve Barbet, speaking to the Guardian maintains police did not use tear gas in their raids. “It’s not in our interest to use teargas unless it’s absolutely necessary to restore public order, and it is never used in the camp itself,” he said.
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Despite these assertions a 7-minute video posted to YouTube by the user Calais Migrant Solidarity shows what appears to be tear gas being used in a raid on refugees.
Since Banksy's satirical art installation Dismaland -- a distortion of Disneyland intended to critique mass-production -- closed last year, the artist has been shipping the leftover materials to build emergency housing in "the Jungle."
Banksy's "Les Misérables" mural is part of a larger series about the Syrian refugee crisis. In December, a painting of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, the son of Syrian immigrants, appeared in a tunnel in the Calais camp.
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This picture taken on Dec. 12, 2015 shows a street art graffiti representing Steve Jobs, founder and late CEO of Apple, by elusive British artist Banksy at the migrant camp known as 'the Jungle' in Calais, northern France.
