Graffiti guerilla has a spray at capitalism.

The municipal councils of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, in east London, have declared war on British street artist Banksy, and intend to remove his work which is especially prominent in London’s north and east suburbs.

Alan Laing, Hackney’s councillor for neighbourhoods, said: “We target areas that have become ‘grot spots’ where graffiti can go hand-in-hand with fly tipping [dumping of rubbish], vandalism and other antisocial behaviour.”

Not everyone refers to Banksy’s work using the terms vandalism and antisocial behaviour though, and some are happy to pay large sums of money for this “grot spot” art.

In October the auctioneer Bonham’s sold 11 of his works for £540,000 ($1.2 million). Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are collectors, as is the British artist Damien Hirst.

Banksy sees his work as a counter balance, and response, to the corporate branding that is plastered all over urban centres, he writes in his book Wall and Piece.

“The people who truly deface our neighbourhoods are the companies that scrawl giant slogans across buildings and buses trying to make us feel inadequate unless we buy their stuff… Well, they started the fight and the wall is the weapon of choice to hit them back.”