Black Lives Matter logo painted on streets near White House seen from space

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A logo written in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign on the streets near the White House, can be seen from space.

The words were written on two blocks of 16th Street in bright yellow letters, on the orders of Washington DC’s mayor, Muriel Bowser. The decision was taken amid protests over the death in police custody of George Floyd.

The Democratic politician also ordered that the section of the street where the logo was written was renamed “Black Lives Matter Plaza”, and accompanied by a new street sign.

While the words would be difficult to miss for anyone walking along this part of the nation’s capital, they were also viewable from space.

An image released on Twitter Planet Labs, a California-based company that operates more than 120 satellites to provide close to real-time images, showed the words clearly.

Ms Bowser, who criticised Donald Trump over his decision to use tear gas and riot police this week to visit St John's Church for a “photo op” with a bible, said she wanted to show her support for those campaigning for change in the country.

“As Washingtonians - we simply all want to be here together in peace to demonstrate that in America - you can peacefully assemble, you can bring grievances to your government, and you can demand change,” said the mayor, who is African American.

According to CNN, she added: “We’re here peacefully as Americans, on American streets, on DC streets.”

The mayor also tweeted and image of a letter she said she sent to the president, calling on him to “withdraw all extraordinary federal law enforcement and military presence from the city”.

“Our police and incident commands have cleared channels of communication and roles and it is important that these additional, unidentified units are operating outside of established chains of commands,” she said.

Not everybody supported the mayor’s decision to write the logo, including the local chapter of Black Lives Matter.

“This is performative and a distraction from her active counter organising to our demands to decrease the police budget and invest in the community,” it tweeted.

“Black Lives Matter means Defund the police.”