The image is a shocking one. A judge, in a long English legal wig and dark robes, is about to smash his gavel onto a man lying on the ground.
The man is holding a sign that is blank but spattered with blood, a small splash of red paint on the otherwise black and white mural.
The piece, the latest art work by Banksy, the famed British street artist, was posted on his Instagram page Monday morning, captioned simply: “Royal Courts of Justice London.”
The mural was immediately interpreted by many as a comment on the treatment of supporters of Palestine Action, a pro-Palestinian activist group that was banned as a terrorist organization by the British government in July.
More than 800 people were arrested in London on Saturday after taking part in protests against the ban.
Hundreds sat silently on the ground outside Parliament holding placards that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” The law used to arrest them criminalizes the wearing, display or publication of anything that “arouses reasonable suspicion” of support for a banned group.
Defend Our Juries, a group that has been organizing demonstrations against the ban, said in a statement that the Banksy work “powerfully depicts the brutality unleashed by Yvette Cooper on protesters by proscribing Palestine Action,” referring to the former home secretary, Ms. Cooper, who introduced the ban.
“Categorizing these acts of conscience as well as direct action targeting weapons’ companies property as terrorism, is objectively preposterous and profoundly corrosive to the principles of free expression and assembly that underpin a democratic society,” the statement said.
The government has defended its decision to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist group, with the security minister, Dan Jarvis, telling Parliament that the group had crossed the legal threshold for terrorism and that its activities had “increased in frequency and severity,” with some members “demonstrating a willingness to use violence.”
By lunchtime on Monday, the mural had been obscured by large sheets of plastic and metal barriers. It was positioned underneath a CCTV camera overlooking one side of the Royal Courts of Justice.
The grand court complex, on the Strand in central London, houses the High Court and the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The co-founder of Palestine Action is waging a legal battle in the High Court against the government’s decision to put the organization on the same legal footing as groups such as Al Qaeda and Islamic State.
At a separate hearing set for Sept. 25 in the Court of Appeal, the British government will seek to overturn a judge’s decision to grant the group permission for a full judicial review of the terror designation.
The government ban came after two members of Palestine Action broke into a British military base and damaged planes to protest Britain’s military support for Israel. Palestine Action is the first organization to be banned under a segment of Britain’s legal definition of terrorism that covers serious property damage, rather than violence against people, to advance a political cause.
Britain’s new home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, appointed on Friday after a reshuffle of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s top team, has indicated that she will support the position of her predecessor, Ms. Cooper.
Ms. Mahmood visited a Metropolitan Police control room in Lambeth on Saturday as people protesting the ban were being arrested across the river, in Westminster. A statement issued by the Home Office said Ms. Mahmood had thanked police leaders and “backed officers in making arrests of those who supported proscribed terrorist organization Palestine Action.”
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