Labour conference begins with mass arrests of pro-Palestine Action protesters

UK police arrested protesters holding placards in support of the banned direct action group Palestine Action on Sunday, with organisers telling The New Arab the government should focus on holding the Israeli government to account rather than targeting protesters.

The protest comes as Britain’s latest Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, prepares to kick off his first party conference.

Almost 230 people took part in a silent vigil, taking place outside the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, holding signs reading, “I OPPOSE GENOCIDE. I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION”, calling on Andy Burnham to de-proscribe Palestine Action, which was listed as a terrorist organisation in 2025.

At least 20 people, including a 94-year-old woman, were arrested as hundreds continue to hold the vigil, organised by Defend Our Juries (DOJ).

“Scenes of elderly people being hauled away by the police and arrested for terrorism, for quietly protesting against genocide and the repression of those who resist it, have become almost normal in Britain,” a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries told The New Arab.

“But this should never be normal in a democracy. If people are no longer shocked by this, it’s because they have given up on democracy and the rule of law.”

When Burnham became prime minister last July, rights groups and activists called on him to remove Palestine Action’s terrorist designation.

“If the British Government were serious about ending its complicity in genocide, it would be sanctioning the government of Israel and Elbit Systems, not silencing and jailing those who oppose their crimes.”

The arrests come after Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja was arrested after taking part in a similar vigil on Saturday by the DOJ.

At the same time, to mark the start of the conference, dozens of top scholars from the United States, including Norman Finkelstein, Judith Butler and Rashid Khalidi, wrote to Burnham to urge him to lift the ban.

Following the group’s designation, hundreds of protesters, many of whom are elderly, have been arrested under terrorism offences for supporting a proscribed group.

Palestine Action was proscribed in June 2025 after a group of protesters broke into the UK’s largest air base and vandalised two planes.

The designation drew outcry from activists and officials, who said the ban targets freedom of speech and the right to protest.