Police and demonstrators during a Lift the Ban on Palestine Action protest organised by Defend our Juries in Parliament Square in London. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Defend Our Juries, a civic organisation supporting rights to jury trials and the group that organised the protest, said the Banksy mural symbolises \u201cthe state brutality unleashed on [protesters] following the proscription of Palestine Action\u201d.<\/p>\n
Loretta So, who was visiting London from California, said she came to see the mural \u201cout of curiosity\u201d after Banksy\u2019s post on social media. \u201cI\u2019ve been a fan of his work for a really long time, and to be able to see this up close is pretty amazing,\u201d So said.<\/p>\n
She said she hasn\u2019t been following the UK protests but was interested to see \u201cthe messages behind [Banksy\u2019s] artwork,\u201d adding that she wasn\u2019t surprised to find the mural covered up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand that it\u2019s the government, and obviously they are not agreeing with what he\u2019s doing,\u201d she said. But, she added, \u201cI\u2019m actually pretty impressed they are allowing people to see it\u201d.<\/p>\n
British Security Minister Dan Jarvis said at Parliament that anyone \u201cwho wishes to demonstrate about the humanitarian situation in Gaza or the actions of any government, including our own, has the absolute freedom to gather with others and voice their views\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Palestine Action \u201chas conducted an escalating campaign involving intimidation and sustained criminal damage, including to Britain\u2019s national security infrastructure,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are not the actions of a legitimate protest group.\u201d<\/p>\n
In March, Palestine Action splashed red paint over at least one building at President Donald Trump\u2019s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, painted the slogan \u201cGaza is not for sale\u201d on the lawn and dug up grass across parts of the golf course there, protesting Trump\u2019s proposal to develop Gaza and displace its residents after Israel\u2019s war with Hamas.<\/p>\n
In June, the group\u2019s members entered a military airfield and spray-painted two military aircraft.<\/p>\n
The protest that was held in support of Palestine Action last week \u201cwas in stark contrast with\u201d the peaceful protests of other pro-Palestinian groups, such as those led by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Jarvis said.<\/p>\n
The artwork of Banksy, a Bristol-based muralist whose identity is unknown, often carries political messages. Sometimes, the artist\u2019s work appears designed to simply amuse.<\/p>\n
Banksy’s mural appeared after a protest supporting Palestine Action, a group banned for alleged violent acts. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Professor Paul Gough, the former Vice-Chancellor at Arts University Bournemouth and author of the 2025 book \u201cBanksy: Cultural Outlaw,\u201d described Banksy\u2019s latest mural as \u201cangry and direct\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very clever and detailed stencil, the faces look like they\u2019ve been laser cut, and the splash of red is vintage Banksy \u2013 law at its most raw,\u201d he said in an email. \u201cNo wonder it was covered up within minutes and will soon be wiped clean.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police and demonstrators during a Lift the Ban on Palestine Action protest organised by Defend our Juries in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3225,14798,1628,13627,5195,14796,14801,1349,156,71,14800,3958,1619,14795,111,139,69,1118,14727,14799,14797,5196,312,2552,5424,13558,1533,102],"class_list":["post-12427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-according","tag-anonymous","tag-artist","tag-banksy","tag-be","tag-beating","tag-british","tag-court","tag-entertainment","tag-from","tag-gavel","tag-judge","tag-london","tag-mural","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-outside","tag-portraying","tag-protester","tag-removed","tag-says","tag-service","tag-street","tag-wall","tag-will","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}