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Last month, the Sutton Council decided to accept votes from citizens on whether to keep or remove the Banksy work, which shows a “punk” consulting an instruction manual for producing graffiti next to a cardboard box labeled IEAK (an anagram of Scandinavian furniture store IKEA). "We believe in democracy and wanted local people to decide what should happen to the Banksy,” council member Colin Hall explained.

A check of current voting showed that 93 percent of the 250 voters who had cast ballots were in favor of keeping the work on display. After vandals tagged the work with graffiti late last month, though, there is no longer much to show. Hall noted the irony of the attack: “The image actually criticized mindless graffiti, so perhaps it isn't surprising that the sort of people who do that sort of thing should attack it.”

The council is now debating whether to restore the piece or remove it entirely.

Read more at BBC News.