Editing Graffiti (section)

=== United Kingdom ===
{{Main|Graffiti in the United Kingdom}}
[[File:Leake street tunnel 2019-11-24.jpg|thumb|200px|It is permitted to create graffiti in the [[Leake Street|Leake st]] tunnel. The tunnel runs underneath Waterloo station in London. 2019]]

The [[Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003]] became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the [[Keep Britain Tidy]] campaign issued a press release calling for [[zero tolerance]] of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" [[Fine (penalty)|fine]]s to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16.<ref name=encams>{{cite press release|title=Graffiti|publisher=EnCams}}</ref> The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in [[music video]]s, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.

To back the campaign, 123 [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Members of Parliament]] (MPs) (including then Prime Minister [[Tony Blair]]), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."<ref name=wire>{{Cite news|title=Is the Writing on the Wall for Graffiti |publisher=PR News Wire |date= 28 July 2004 |url=http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=127383}}</ref>

In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the [[Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003]] (as amended by the [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2005/ukpga_20050016_en_1 Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005]) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}

In July 2008, a [[Criminal conspiracy|conspiracy]] charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation,<ref name=bbc2>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7502768.stm |title=Jail for leader of graffiti gang |access-date=17 July 2008 |date=11 July 2008
|work=BBC News}}</ref> nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit [[Property damage|criminal damage]] costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.<ref name=indep>{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art-and-architecture/features/graffiti-street-art-ndash-or-crime-868736.html |title= Graffiti: Street art—or crime? |access-date=17 July 2008 |first=Arifa |last=Akbar |author2=Paul Vallely |date=16 July 2008 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] | location=London}}</ref>

Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".<ref name=bbc3>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/articles/2007/04/17/graffiti_feature.shtml |title=Graffiti? Or is it Art? |publisher=BBC Gloucestershire }}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Graffiti in Europe">
File:Mur de tags au Forum de Barcelone.jpg|Multi-artist graffiti in [[Barcelona]], Spain
File:KGD zumaia 1.jpg|Integration of graffiti into its environment, [[Zumaia]], Spain (2016)
File:Grafiti na Trsatu, Rijeka (Croatia).jpg|Graffiti made by school children in [[Rijeka]], Croatia
File:ქორქ?.jpg|Graffiti written in [[Georgian scripts|Georgian script]], [[Tbilisi]], Georgia
File:Princip Gavrilo grafit.JPG|Historical graffito of [[Gavrilo Princip]] in [[Belgrade]], Serbia
File:NN 07-08-2020 46.jpg|Graffiti on a garage near a school in [[Nizhny Novgorod]], Russia
File:Stadion Ljudski Vrt (19577579076).jpg|[[Association football|Football]] related graffiti in [[Maribor]], Slovenia
File:Our Lady of the Hattifatteners (cropped).jpg|Graffiti by [[Hazul]] in [[Porto]], Portugal
</gallery>