Provocative artwork unveiled
Banksy has struck again – this time on the walls of the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
His latest stencil depicts a judge in full robes and wig, raising a gavel in violent fashion against a protester lying on the ground. The protester clutches a placard, now bloodied, in a chilling symbol of suppressed dissent.
Commentary on free speech
The imagery is hard to misinterpret. At a moment when the UK judiciary has been issuing increasingly tough sentences against activists, protesters and campaigners, Banksy’s mural speaks directly to the sense of a judicial crackdown on free expression and the right to protest.
The bloodied placard becomes a metaphor for the silencing of voices through punitive legal measures.
Swift censorship
In a twist of irony, the Royal Courts of Justice itself appeared to prove Banksy’s point. Within an hour of the work’s appearance, security guards and fencing were erected to cover the mural.
What could have been preserved as a valuable and likely multi-million-pound – artwork was instead treated as a problem to be hidden, if not destroyed.
Banksy’s enduring message
By obscuring the piece so quickly, authorities risk amplifying the very critique Banksy makes: that institutions would rather erase uncomfortable truths than confront them.
Whether the artwork survives or is painted over, its message has already landed – that Britain’s courts are in danger of being seen not as protectors of liberty, but as instruments of suppression.
The reaction also underlines the wider tension between public art and state control. Street art, by its nature, exists outside the boundaries of permission and authority, yet it often captures the pulse of society more vividly than official channels.
By fencing it off, the state not only attempts to neutralise Banksy’s intervention but also signals discomfort with its own reflection in his work.
