Security guards stand beside a metal barrier covering up an artwork by street artist Banksy, depicting a judge using a gavel to beat a protester using a placard as protection, on an exterior wall of the Royal Courts of Justice in London, on 8 September 2025.
Photo: AFP / Carlos Jasso
British street artist Banksy has taken aim at the UK’s crackdown on protesters with a new work outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, adding fuel to a free-speech row roiling the country.
The artist posted an image of the work, which features a judge wielding a gavel over a protester on the ground holding a blood-splattered placard, on his Instagram page.
The work has since been covered by black plastic sheets and two metal barriers.
It appeared after 890 people were arrested at a demonstration against a ban on the activist group Palestine Action in London on Saturday.
The artist posted an image of the work on his Instagram page.
Photo: Instagram
The artwork “powerfully depicts the brutality unleashed” by the government’s ban, said a spokesperson from the Defend Our Juries group that organised the protest.
“Since the dystopian ban came into force, over 1600 people have been arrested under the Terrorism Act for holding cardboard signs with seven words ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action’,” the spokesperson added.
“When the law is used as a tool to crush civil liberties, it does not extinguish dissent – it strengthens it.”
Free speech has become a hot topic in the UK, with people from across the political spectrum complaining that the law is too heavy-handed.
The issue hit international headlines last week when comedy writer Graham Linehan was arrested for posts on X insulting transgender people.
-AFP