Anti-NYPD 'Murderers' Mural, Approved By Store, Removed By Police-gctid52937

[Kala Kambon]

Alan Ket's Anti-NYPD 'Murderers' Mural, Approved By Store, Removed By Police (PHOTO)

Alan Ket's Anti-NYPD 'Murderers' Mural, Approved By Store, Removed By Police (PHOTO)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Posted: 07/26/2012 12:26 pm Updated: 07/26/2012  2:13 pm

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                                                                                                                         NY News, NYPD, Alain Maridueña, Alan Ket, Alan Ket Mural, Graffiti, Inwood, Murderers Mural, New-York-Graffiti-Artists, Nypd Murderers, NYPD Scandals,                                                                                                                              New York News

A mural calling the NYPD "MURDERERS",  spray-painted on a wall by a graffiti artist with the permission of the  building owner, was painted over and removed by cops Tuesday. The  artist has now been told by the building owner that the controversial  painting needed the clearance of the NYPD, in what seems a clear  violation of the First Amendment.
  Artist Alan Ket told DNAinfo:
  This wall is being censored by the NYPD. I told him I found  it kind of strange he would feel he needed to get approval or permission  or run anything by the police, but he said that he doesn't want any  problems with the police, that the police are a bit threatening.    
Photo courtesy of Ron Fleming.
  The mural, painted on the side of an Inwood cleaners business, also included the names Haliburton, Bank of America, and the United States Government, all written on tombstones.
  The nearby 34th Precinct appeared none too happy with the mural, and ordered two plainclothes officers to paint over it with black paint.
  Ket responded to the removal on Facebook, writing:
  "Graffiti is a legal term used to identify the defacing of  property and this was not that at all? And was the message negative? It  certainly was forceful but negative? How about opinionated. I painted  the wall to communicate my feelings in light of the continued violence  and injustice created against all living things by the people and  corporations that I mentioned in the mural. There are hundreds f not  thounited snakesnds of others that could be included. Its fine that you don't like  it. We are all entitled to our individual opinions.... And thank you  all who have posted in support of freedom of expression. Sometimes it  just takes a small act like this to know where we stand as a community  in the eyes of the authorities."     Ket's legal name is Alain Maridueña and he's had a series of confrontations with the law because of his prominent works of graffiti.
  In 2007, NYPD raided Ket's apartment  and confiscated 3,000 cans of spray paint. The city charged the veteran  artist with 14 criminal counts including trespassing and criminal  mischief.
  He pleaded not guilty to all charges  with his lawyers referencing Ket's work being displayed in well-known  galleries throughout the city and his professional relationship with  designer Marc Ecko.
  Since the arrest, Ket has held a panel alongside retired police officers, one of whom arrested Ket years earlier, to discuss police brutality and graffiti work.