A new mural attributed to the anonymous street artist Banksy depicting a judge beating an unarmed protester with a gavel has appeared outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, and the artist posted a photograph of the work on Instagram on Monday.

The stencil-style image shows a figure in a traditional judicial wig and black gown standing over a protester who lies on the ground clutching a blood-splattered placard. Banksy’s Instagram caption read "Royal Courts Of Justice. London." The artwork does not explicitly reference a single cause or incident, but activists and campaigners interpreted it as a comment on the U.K. government’s recent ban on the group Palestine Action.

Defend Our Juries, the group that organized a London protest challenging the ban, said the mural "powerfully depicts the brutality unleashed" by the government action. On Saturday, almost 900 people were arrested at demonstrations in the city tied to the campaign. Security officials covered the mural with sheets of black plastic on Monday, put up two metal barriers and stationed two officers and a CCTV camera to guard the area.

Banksy, who began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, routinely posts images of new works to an Instagram account that is widely accepted as his method of claiming authorship. His stenciled pieces and installations have achieved international attention and command high prices at auction, and the artist’s works have at times been targeted by thieves or altered by other vandals.

Thematically, the new courthouse mural fits within a long-running strand of Banksy’s work that critiques government policy and exposes perceived abuses of power. In recent years Banksy has produced pieces addressing migration and conflict, including a depiction of a shipwrecked child titled "The Migrant Child" that was unveiled in Venice in 2019, and a number of works placed in occupied Palestinian territories and Gaza. He also opened the "Walled Off Hotel" in Bethlehem, which closed in October 2023.

Last summer, Banksy drew broad public attention in London with an animal-themed sequence of works that appeared over nine days, ranging from a mountain goat on a building buttress to a gorilla seemingly holding up the London Zoo entrance. The new mural continues the artist’s practice of using public spaces to pose provocative, politically charged images.

Authorities did not release further details about the mural or plans for its removal. Organizers of protests linked to the Palestine Action ban and civil liberties advocates have pointed to the image as a visual critique of recent enforcement measures. The mural’s appearance outside a major court adds to an ongoing public debate in Britain over protest rights and state responses to civil disobedience.

Media outlets and passersby photographed the work before it was covered. Banksy’s identity remains officially unconfirmed, but the artist’s posts and the sudden appearance of stenciled, topical images continue to draw attention and fuel discussions about the relationship between street art, politics and public space.