Cleaning up the Bristol Banksy murals

They were urgent jobs to preserve two of Bristol's landmarks, but there was no escaping the irony in cleaning splattered paint off works of graffiti.

The mural, on Stokes Croft, was splattered with blue paint just hours after the mural on Park Street, a naked man hanging from a windowsill, was attacked.

Yesterday morning a clean-up operation was in force by the People's Republic of Stoke's Croft (PRSC) – the third time they had cleaned the mural.

Councillor Spud Murphy also set to work in an attempt to restore the Park Street mural to its former glory but was unable to complete the job.

Councillor Murphy, who criticised the council's decision to keep the mural three years ago, set out on a cherry picker at 10am yesterday armed with washing up liquid, warm water and a toothbrush.

He said his decision to clean up the attack was to "stop the vandals" as well as being part of a bet he had made with councillor Gary Hopkins, who had told him the mural could not be saved.

He said: "When it happened our executive member said I couldn't get that done and it couldn't be saved but there's £10 riding on it now.

"I've done some checks and the paint seems biodegradable. Banksy works with acrylic so it should be OK if we take it steady but it will take a couple of hours.

"I'm against graffiti but not the actual painting. Yes, you can say that they are both forms of graffiti but now so many people are coming to see Banksy's work at the museum, it's bringing a lot of joy to them. I don't want these vandals getting away with it."

A small crowd gathered around the site but not everyone was full of encouragement for councillor Murphy's work.

Seri Choron, 18, from Bedminster, said: "It's hypocritical. How can they punish other graffiti writers? I've got a lot of respect for Banksy but this should be left on the wall."

Joshua Eckett, 20, from Weston, said: "It should be cleaned off but it's a bit strange cleaning graffiti off graffiti."

Starting around the outside of the painting, councillor Murphy scrubbed off most of the damage but hit problems when he tried to take off paint on top of the existing art.

"There's a problem with the paint underneath coming off; I need to speak to the council and ask if we can scrape it off and then it will have to be touched up," he said. "We should know by Friday."

Meanwhile, over on Stokes Croft, workers at the People's Republic of Stokes Croft had scaled ladders to clean up a similar attack on Banksy's Mild Mild West.

Chris Chalkley, chairman of PRSC, said: "We're doing this as a priority. Stokes Croft is an outdoor gallery, that's part of our mission statement, and this is the jewel in the crown. Banksy has contributed enormously to political debate and local people have shown that they want this and it's part of their culture."

Rumours that a man had been arrested after the first attack were denied by police. Cath Foster, spokeswoman for Avon and Somerset police, said: "There have been no arrests in connection with the incident; there is currently no investigation underway as we have not had an official complaint of criminal damage."