Banksy’s Latest, Powerful Political Theater

Banksy’s latest work, featuring Cosette from the musical Les Misérables crying in a cloud of tear gas, is powerful, political theater. The work appeared in London, this weekend, on a wall across from the French embassy and is an immediate and pointed critique of the alleged use of tear gas by French police in a refugee camp in Calais, writes Lizzie Crocker. Approximately 5,000 migrants from Syria and other African nations, like Libya and Eritrea, have settled in the slum-like camp.

While French police denied using tear gas, a video shows them using tear gas during a raid of the refugee camps. This same video can be accessed by anyone who passes by Banksy’s Cosette using a barcode.