Graffiti artist scales Australian bridge tower, paints bird cartoon, disrupts traffic

SYDNEY: A man scaled the 140-metre-high tower of a cantilever bridge in the Australian city of Melbourne on Tuesday and painted a giant cartoon bird on it, disrupting morning commuter traffic.

The man demanded a peanut butter sandwich be delivered by drone before he would come down, causing a stand-off with police and closing a lane on the Bolte Bridge.

“A man has scaled the bridge and remains in a restricted area on the eastern tower. He is refusing to follow police direction and come down,” said Paul Hogan, an acting sergeant with Victoria Police.

“Police allege the man is responsible for graffitiing the bridge earlier this morning.”

The graffiti on the bridge closely resembles Pam the Bird, a symbol that has appeared on dozens of buildings in Melbourne in recent years, including on the heritage-listed Flinders Street railway station.

An Instagram account posting footage from the bridge on Tuesday showed a man dangling his legs from the top of the tower.

In subsequent posts, the man demanded lower taxes in Australia, and requested a peanut butter sandwich be delivered by drone before he would come down.

A man appeared in court last year charged with more than 200 offences, many in connection with previous Pam the Bird graffiti incidents.

It was not clear who was behind Tuesday’s incident.