LONDON, ONT. -- Travellers along the Thames Valley Parkway had noticed that some taggers were getting a graffiti grace period, but it has ended.
Black Lives Matter tags had been spared as city crews cleaned up graffiti along the Thames Valley Parkway.
They were visible in the tunnel that goes under the rail line in the Horton Street and Wharncliffe Road area. All other graffiti had been removed from the site.
Orest Katolyk, the manager of bylaw enforcement for the City of London, says it was a matter of timing.
Crews had just resumed graffiti removal efforts after they were stalled by COVID-19.
But they arrived at the site just before the Black Lives Matter protest at Victoria Park that attracted an estimated 10,000 people.
For that reason the tags were allowed to stay, Katolyk says, “Out of respect, and recognizing that this was just before the protest a few weeks ago, we did not remove this graffiti. However, our intention is, as always, to remove all graffiti off city property because we recognize graffiti is vandalism."
By Wednesday afternoon, Katolyk tells CTV News the tags had been removed.
