Banksy

The Battle of the Bean Field took place on the 1st of June, 1985, in Wiltshire, England – where a convoy of around 600 New Age travellers tried to hold their annual festival at Stonehenge. However, 1,300 police officers were deployed to enforce a High Court ban on the gathering.

When some travellers got past their roadblocks by running through the fields, the police launched several violent attacks. Dozens of travellers were injured; 8 police officers and 16 travellers ended up in hospital, and 537 travellers were eventually arrested. It was one of the largest mass arrests of civilians since the Second World War – perhaps even the largest in English legal history.

Banksy’s choice to depict officers frolicking in the field, fully clad in gear, is a satirical stab against authority and censorship. The Battle of the Bean Field became notorious as photographs and video footage seemingly disappeared.