London (AFP) — British street artist Banksy on Monday took aim at the UK’s crackdown on protesters with a new work outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, adding fuel to a free-speech row roiling the country.

The artist posted an image of the work, which features a judge wielding a gavel over a protester on the ground holding a blood-splattered placard, on his Instagram page.

The work has since been covered by black plastic sheets and two metal barriers.

It appeared after 890 people were arrested at a demonstration against a ban on the activist group Palestine Action in London on Saturday.

The artwork “powerfully depicts the brutality unleashed” by the government’s ban, said a spokesperson from the Defend Our Juries group that organised the protest.

“Since the dystopian ban cam

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