D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has ordered the message "Black Lives Matter" to be painted in enormous yellow letters on 16th Street leading up to the White House. /AP

City workers and local artists started to paint the 2-block long mural early Friday morning. /AP

The section bearing the slogan has been officially renamed "Black Lives Matter Plaza" by Bowser, with a new street sign installed. "We're here peacefully as Americans, on American streets, on D.C. streets," she said. /AP

The D.C. chapter of the Black Lives Matter Global Network, however, criticized the move, calling it "a performative distraction from real policy changes" and a way "to appease white liberals while ignoring our demands". /AP