Germany toughens Fight against Graffiti

The German Parliament passed a bill today which tightens the punishability of graffiti. According to the old law graffiti sprayers could only be punished for malicious damage to property if the substance of the property in question was permanently damaged or its usability permanently lowered. Most sprayings on walls don't damage anything nor do they render houses uninhabitable. The new law now criminalizes sprayers if graffitis change the appearance of the property. Which it mostly does, last time I checked.

Have a look at this piece of art:

Picture taken of local graffiti by Melbourne Graffiti crew. Wikipedia.org obtained an authorization from www.melbournegraffiti.com. This image is copyrighted. The copyright holder allows anyone to use it for any purpose, provided that the website is credited.