MARGATE: British graffiti artist Banksy on Tuesday unveiled his latest UK street artwork, which appears to take aim at domestic violence against women as the world celebrates Valentine`s Day.

The mural, which appeared in Margate in southeast England, depicts a 1950s-style housewife with a swollen eye and a missing tooth seemingly shoving her male partner into a real chest freezer.

Despite being integral to the artwork, the abandoned freezer was later removed by council workers.

The elusive Banksy, whose true identity remains unconfirmed, posted three images of the work which he entitled `Valentine`s Day Mascara` on his Instagram account.

Two of the images were close-ups showing the woman, wearing a blue pinafore and yellow washing up gloves, smiling butseemingly with a battered face. Workers claiming to be from Thanet council, the local authority administering Margate, arrived at the site mid-morning on Tuesday to clear away the dilapidated household appliance.

The move prompted bemusement and even conspiracy theories among bystanders, who noted it was usually hard to get the council to make prompt removals. `People were sort of like, `Stop, stop, you know, this is a Banksy, right?`` local resident Laura Holden, 35, said. `And they (the workers) were like, `Yeah, no, we`ve got permission to take everything away`,` she said.

`It felt like it was part of the piece, and perhaps Banksy intended that all along, because we all know how hard it is to get Thanet District Council to come and collect our rubbish.`-AFP