Court staff cover up Banksy image of judge beating a protester

[muriel_volestrangler]

Artist’s latest work at Royal Courts of Justice in London is thought to refer to pro-Palestine demonstrations

A painting by Banksy of a judge using a gavel to beat a helpless protester appeared on the walls of the Royal Courts of Justice before quickly being covered up by guards.
...
Police detained close to 900 people in the demonstration against the banning of the protest group, Palestine Action.

Banksy’s Instagram photo showed a lawyer and a cyclist passing the artwork, which is on the wall of the Queen’s Building at the court complex.

The protester lies on the ground holding a white placard with a red mark resembling blood.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/sep/08/court-staff-cover-up-banksy-image-of-judge-beating-a-protester

(The government designated Palestine Action a "terrorist group", despite its actions being against inanimate objects that cannot experience "terror". This then makes saying or holding a placard with "I support Palestine Action" a criminal offence.)

[marble falls]

1. Nothing new. Remember when GWB's AG Ashcroft draped the statues of Justice ...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cover-up-at-justice-department/

Cover-Up At Justice Department
By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 29, 2002 / 1:18 PM EST / CBS

No longer will the attorney general be photographed in front of two partially nude statues in the Great Hall of the Department of Justice.

The department spent $8,000 on blue drapes that hide the two giant, aluminum art deco statues. For aesthetic reasons the drapes were occasionally hung in front of the statues before formal events. The department used to rent the drapes, but has now purchased them and left them hanging.

Justice Department spokeswoman Barbara Comstock said the decision to install the curtains was made by Attorney General John Ashcroft's aide who handles advance work. "It was done for TV aesthetics," she said.

ABC News reported that Ashcroft ordered the statues covered because he didn't like being photographed in front of them.

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Ashcroft has been photographed several times in front of the female statue that represents the Spirit of Justice. The statue has its arms raised and a toga draped over its body, but a single breast is completely exposed.

The other statue, of a man with a cloth covering his midsection, is called the Majesty of Law.

Both statues were installed in the 1930s when the building was finished, according to the Justice Department.

The statues were hidden by curtains on Nov. 20, when President Bush came to the Justice Department to name the building after the assassinated former attorney general,
Robert Kennedy.

Comstock said the Justice Department bought the drapes to avoid having to rent them every time the agency had a formal event. The drapes cost about $2,000 to rent.

[progressoid]

2. Gosh, I can't imagine why they didn't like this

?quality=75&width=1368&auto=webp

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. I'm sure it's just the inaccuracy of a gavel and an English judge

Although they’re often seen in cartoons and TV programmes and mentioned in almost everything else involving judges, the one place you won’t see a gavel is an English or Welsh courtroom – they are not used there and have never been used in the Criminal Courts.

https://www.judiciary.uk/about-the-judiciary/history-of-the-judiciary-in-england-and-wales/court-traditions/

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. This Banksy, which appeared overnight on the side of the Royal Courts of Justice building in London, is extremely powerf

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Well 1 hour after the new banksy was revealed, the courts censored it by covering it up...

Link to tweet

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. It's needing 2 security guards to keep it covered that makes it ridiculous

Are they going to have to be 24 hours a day? (If they aren't, I would expect someone would reveal it again, in the middle of the night. Even if you were caught, I wonder if they'd prosecute for just pulling down tape and black paper.)