Overview
- Banksy, who posted an Instagram video Thursday, confirmed the statue is his by showing its covert overnight installation in Waterloo Place.
- The work shows a suited figure stepping off a plinth with a flag covering his face, and it stands among monuments to Edward VII, Florence Nightingale, and the Crimean War.
- Westminster City Council said it welcomes the piece and has put up barriers as an initial protective step while keeping it open to the public.
- Onlookers flocked to the site and reactions ranged from praise to dislike, with many reading the image as a warning about blind patriotism.
- The confirmation comes after a March Reuters investigation that named a possible identity for Banksy, a claim his lawyer disputed, so the mystery around the artist endures.