A new mural by the elusive street artist Banksy has appeared outside a London court

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. (AP Photo/Joanna Chan)

LONDON (AP) — A new mural by elusive street artist Banksy showing a judge beating an unarmed protester with a gavel has appeared outside a London court.

The mural 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 Monday on Instagram, his usual method of claiming a work as authentic. It was captioned “Royal Courts Of Justice. London.”

While the artwork does not refer to a particular cause or incident, activists saw it as a reference to 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.

Defend Our Juries, the group that organized the protest, said in a statement that the mural “powerfully depicts the brutality unleashed" by the government ban. “When the law is used as a tool to crush civil liberties, it does not extinguish dissent, it strengthens it,” the statement said.

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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)

Security officials outside the courthouse covered the mural Monday with sheets of black plastic and two metal barriers, and it was being guarded by two officers and a CCTV camera.

Banksy began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has become one of the world’s best-known artists. His paintings and installations sell for millions of dollars at auction and have drawn thieves and vandals.

Last summer, Banksy captured London’s attention with an animal-themed collection, 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 -- from a mountain goat perched on a building buttress to piranhas circling a police guard post to a rhinoceros mounting a car — showed up in unlikely locations around the city.