Banksy’s latest artwork appears outside at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, which shows a judge using his gavel to strike a protester who is lying on the ground holding a placard has been covered up, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025.聽
Security officials stand in front of large sheets of black plastic and two metal barriers which conceal street artist Banksy’s latest artwork, a protester lying on the ground holding a blood-splattered placard while a judge in a traditional wig and black gown beats him with a gavel, outside at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Joanna Chan)
New Banksy mural of a judge beating a protester to be removed from outside London court
The mural may reference the U.K. government’s ban on the group Palestine Action. On Saturday, almost 900 people were arrested at a London protest challenging the ban.
LONDON (AP) 鈥 A new mural by elusive street artist Banksy showing a judge beating an unarmed protester with a gavel will be removed from a wall outside one of London’s most iconic courts, authorities said Monday.
The mural appeared Monday and depicts a protester lying on the ground holding a blood-splattered placard while a judge in a traditional wig and black gown beats him with a gavel. Banksy posted a photo of the work on Instagram, his usual method of claiming a work as authentic. It was captioned 鈥淩oyal Courts Of Justice. London.鈥
Security officials outside the courthouse covered the artwork Monday with sheets of black plastic and two metal barriers, and it was being guarded by two officers and a security camera.
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A new mural by elusive street artist Banksy showing a judge beating an unarmed protester with a gavel will be removed from a wall outside one of London's most iconic courts, authorities said Monday. (Sept. 8, 2025)
AP Video
Because the Victorian gothic revival style building is 143 years old, the mural will be removed with consideration for its historical significance, according to HM Courts and Tribunals.
鈥淭he Royal Courts of Justice is a listed building and HMCTS are obliged to maintain its original character,鈥 it said in a statement. Listed buildings are considered the country鈥檚 most significant historic buildings and sites and are protected by law.
While the artwork doesn’t refer to a particular cause or incident, activists saw it as a reference to the U.K. government’s . On Saturday at a London protest challenging the ban.
Defend Our Juries, the group that organized the protest, said in a statement that the mural 鈥減owerfully depicts the brutality unleashed鈥 by the government ban.
鈥淲hen the law is used as a tool to crush civil liberties, it does not extinguish dissent, it strengthens it,鈥 the statement said.
The courts have weighed in on the Palestine Action case, with judges initially rejecting the organization鈥檚 request to appeal its ban. A High Court court judge then allowed the appeal to go forward, though the government is now challenging that decision.
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Banksy began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has become one of the world鈥檚 best-known artists. His paintings and installations and have drawn and .
Banksy鈥檚 work often comments on political issues, with many of his pieces criticizing government policy on migration and war.
At the Glastonbury Festival last year, an inflatable raft holding dummies of migrants in life jackets was unveiled during a band鈥檚 headline set. Banksy appeared to claim the stunt, which was thought to symbolize small boat crossings of migrants in the English Channel, in a post on Instagram.
The artist has also taken his message on migration to Europe.
In 2019, depicting a shipwrecked child holding a pink smoke bomb and wearing a life jacket, was unveiled in Venice, Italy. In 2018, a number of works including one near a former center for migrants that depicted a child spray-painting wallpaper over a swastika were discovered in Paris.
Banksy has also created numerous artworks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the years, including one depicting a girl conducting a body search on an Israeli soldier, another showing a dove wearing a flak jacket, and a masked protester hurling a bouquet of flowers. He designed in Bethlehem, which closed in October 2023.
Last summer, Banksy captured London鈥檚 attention with an which concluded with a mural of a gorilla appearing to hold up the entrance gate to London Zoo.
For nine days straight, Banksy-created creatures 鈥 from a mountain goat perched on a building buttress to piranhas circling a police guard post to a rhinoceros mounting a car 鈥 showed up in unlikely locations around the city.
