Drilling has started on the iconic Black Lives Matter mural in Washington, DC. The bold yellow letters were painted on a street leading to the White House in the midst of the nationwide protests over the murder of George Floyd by a White police officer in 2020.

Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, ordered the painting and renamed the intersection Black Lives Matter Plaza as a public act of defiance in June 2020

Local government crews in Washington began on Monday morning to remove the Black Lives Matter mural that was painted near the White House nearly five years ago.