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\u2019s most iconic courts, authorities said Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u201cRoyal Courts Of Justice. London.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Royal Courts of Justice is a listed building and HMCTS are obliged to maintain its original character,\u201d it said in a statement. Listed buildings are considered the country\u2019s most significant historic buildings and sites and are protected by law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the artwork doesn\u2019t refer to a particular cause or incident, activists saw it as a reference to the UK government\u2019s ban on the group Palestine Action. On Saturday almost 900 people were arrested at a London protest challenging the ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defend Our Juries, the group that organized the protest, said in a statement that the mural \u201cpowerfully depicts the brutality unleashed\u201d by the government ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen the law is used as a tool to crush civil liberties, it does not extinguish dissent, it strengthens it,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The courts have weighed in on the Palestine Action case, with judges initially rejecting the organization\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Banksy began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has become one of the world\u2019s best-known artists. His paintings and installations sell for millions of dollars at auction and have drawn thieves and vandals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Banksy\u2019s work often comments on political issues, with many of his pieces criticizing government policy on migration and war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the Glastonbury Festival last year, an inflatable raft holding dummies of migrants in life jackets was unveiled during a band\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The artist has also taken his message on migration to Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2019, \u201cThe Migrant Child,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 the \u201cWalled Off Hotel\u201d guesthouse in Bethlehem, which closed in October 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last summer, Banksy captured London\u2019s attention with an animal-themed collection, which concluded with a mural of a gorilla appearing to hold up the entrance gate to London Zoo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For nine days straight, Banksy-created creatures \u2014 from a mountain goat perched on a building buttress to piranhas circling a police guard post to a rhinoceros mounting a car \u2014 showed up in unlikely locations around the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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