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Citizens of Reims in northern France have lost a brand new artwork commissioned for the town, after the anti-graffiti squad scrubbed it off.

The town hall commissioned a street art mural by the country's top graffiti artist, C215, showing a sulking boy slumped against a wall.

But there was a slight hitch - the town's cleaning department were not told not to remove it.

C215, whose real name is Christian Guemy, seemed quite relaxed about it.

The artist told AFP news agency what surprised him was that it was cleaned up by the same city that commissioned him.

The town hall had apologised, he said.

Meanwhile officials told French media that the artist would return to Reims at the start of March to carry out more work.

The culture and events department would be giving advance notice to the anti-graffiti squad this time, they added.