Banksy tags coronavirus-inspired graffiti as Italy returns his stolen artwork to France

Banksy is back with a coronavirus-inspired message.

The British artist, known for his detailed graffiti and hidden identity, took to the London Underground to make some street art involving face masks and the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a video posted to his Instagram on Tuesday, the artist appears to disguise himself as an employee tasked with deep cleaning the trains of London's metro system, known as the Tube.

But instead of cleaning the interior of a train, Banksy tagged images of rats all over the walls, including one of a rat sneezing across a window. Other rats wear face masks as parachutes and carry hand sanitizer.

"If you don’t mask - you don’t get," the artist captioned the video of him working.

In addition to tagging his moniker inside a train car, Banksy also tagged the phrase "I get lockdown" on a metro stop along with "But I get up again" on the doors of a train.

Transport for London has since removed the work due to its "strict anti-graffiti policy," according to CNN and The Irish Times.

In a statement to the outlets, a TfL spokesperson said, "We appreciate the sentiment of encouraging people to wear face coverings... We’d like to offer Banksy the chance to do a new version of his message for our customers in a suitable location."

The elusive artist's post about his latest project comes on the same day that Italy returned to France his stolen artwork that was painted as a tribute to the victims of the 2015 Paris attacks at the Bataclan music hall.

The chief prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Michele Renzo, told the French ambassador that it was significant that the handover was occurring on Bastille Day, given the need to continue fighting for all freedoms.

“This door brings our minds back to the memory of the tragic and distressing event, and tells us that for liberty, for our individual liberties, we will always have to fight,” Renzo said at a ceremony in the French Embassy, where the artwork was being displayed for the holiday.

French officials last year had announced the theft of the piece, a black image appearing to depict a person mourning that was painted on one of the Bataclan’s emergency exit doors.

Ninety people were killed at the Bataclan on Nov. 13, 2015, when Islamic extremists invaded the music hall, one of several targets that night in which a total of 130 people died.

Italian authorities had announced last month that they had discovered the painted door in an attic in a country home in Abruzzo.

French Ambassador Christian Masset said the door was a “witness” to the attack but also an escape route.

“Through this door which was an emergency exit, many people managed to escape,” he said. “Thanks to this door more lives were saved.”

Standing next to the piece after it was unveiled, Renzo said Italy was proud to return the painting to its rightful owners.

“Recovering this symbol, handing it back to the public’s emotion was for us a commitment and today is a great honor,” said Renzo, chief prosecutor in L’Aquila.

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Contributing: Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Banksy tags face mask street art as Italy returns stolen work to France