Local government crews in Washington began on Monday morning to remove the Black Lives Matter mural that was painted near the White House nearly five years ago.

The mural, spelling “BLACK LIVES MATTER” in bright yellow letters, covered two blocks of 16th Street Northwest. It was painted in June 2020, turning the pavement into a pedestrian zone called Black Lives Matter Plaza.

The mural was one of many that were put to pavement all across the United States that summer, often by Black artists whose work transformed public squares and city streets into condemnations of racism.

And while the murals were never without critics — including activists who thought the art rang hollow without more structural reform — the one in Washington left a stamp of protest on a place where powerful people lived, worked and commuted.

But the fate of the plaza has been in question since President Trump returned to the White House in January, and last week Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said that the mural would be removed. Her announcement came shortly after Representative Andrew Clyde, a Republican from Georgia, introduced legislation threatening to withhold millions of dollars in federal funds from the city unless the mural was removed and the plaza renamed.

On Monday, a truck full of traffic barriers sat on top of the mural, along with rows of orange cones and yellow tape. The sound of a jackhammer drilling into the street echoed through the downtown like any other road repair project.