Police arrest pro-Palestine Action protesters outside Labour conference

Police have arrested up to 20 pro-Palestine Action activists outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool after they displayed banners and placards supporting the banned group.

The vigil, organised by the Defend Our Juries (DOJ) group, featured activists holding banners with slogans such as “I OPPOSE GENOCIDE. I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION.”

Merseyside Police made the arrests under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act, which prohibits support for proscribed organisations. Officers intervened at around 1pm, shortly after the signs were unveiled.

While around 200 activists—including several elderly supporters—participated in a silent vigil on Sunday, a smaller group gathered at Albert Dock near the conference entrance. Their signs reportedly prompted complaints of antisemitism from some delegates attending the event.

Palestine Action was designated a proscribed organisation in June 2025, following an incident in which protesters broke into the UK’s largest air base and vandalised two planes.

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries called the arrests “shameful and chilling.”

The spokesperson added: “Yet again, hundreds of people have turned out to sit in silence, holding signs stating their solidarity with the Palestinian people and their opposition to the UK’s complicity in genocide.”

However, some delegates inside the conference welcomed the police intervention.

“Good riddance,” said one Labour veteran. “This is a critical conference for the party. We need to give an impression we can start to turn the country around. But that lot want to take us back to the bad old days of Jeremy Corbyn.”