Elon Musk’s attempt to strip the Twitter sign from the company’s San Francisco headquarters has been stopped by police after the billionaire failed to get the proper city permits.

Workers were hired to remove the word Twitter and the company’s blue bird logo from a sign outside the company’s offices after Mr Musk changed the social network’s name to X.

A worker removed the @ symbol and the letters t, w, i, t and t from one half of the giant sign on Monday.

However, work was stopped after police were called to the scene for “a possible unpermitted street closure”. The shutdown left just the letters “er” and the blue bird logo remaining.

The sign, which is almost three floors high with a clock on the bottom, has been an icon of the company’s headquarters since it occupied the building in 2012.

Police arrived after receiving a complaint from the building’s management, who said they had not been told about the change.