More than 50 arrested at Palestine Action rally outside Labour conference

Merseyside Police said more than 50 people had been arrested at a protest outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Sunday, 27 September. Demonstrators had gathered to support the banned group Palestine Action. Police said the arrests concerned suspected displays of support for a proscribed organisation, bringing a dispute over the ban to the conference entrance.

The figure was an interim count: police said arrests were still being made. The reports available at that point did not establish a final total or say whether those detained had been charged or released. An arrest on suspicion of an offence does not establish guilt.

What happened outside the conference

The BBC and The Independent reported that more than 250 protesters sat outside the conference venue, many holding handmade signs saying, ‘I support Palestine Action’. Novara Media reported a lower figure of 195 participants, attributed to the organisers. The differing estimates should be read as accounts of the crowd, rather than a settled attendance figure.

The Independent reported that scores of officers stood nearby before making arrests. According to its account, officers told demonstrators that their signs supported a proscribed organisation, asked whether they would continue holding them and then led some people away under the Terrorism Act. Protesters applauded as people were removed, the newspaper reported.

Among those at the rally was a 71-year-old Church of England priest identified as Bill. ‘This is the right place to be, this is where God is,’ he told Novara Media. A 94-year-old demonstrator identified as Margaret told the outlet that she wanted Prime Minister Andy Burnham to lift the ban immediately and stop arms to Israel. The BBC identified a 94-year-old detainee as human rights barrister Margaret Owen.

Police and organisers give their accounts

Police said officers were making arrests on suspicion of wearing or carrying an article supporting a proscribed organisation. The BBC reported the force’s statement that it respected the right to protest lawfully while seeking to keep the peace and ensure public safety. Police also said that not everyone present at the demonstration had committed a criminal offence.

Organisers Defend Our Juries had announced a silent vigil near the conference centre to oppose Palestine Action’s proscription, Al Jazeera reported before the event. A spokesperson later told the BBC that the group had hoped Burnham would lift the ban and described its continuation as ‘illogical, unsustainable and immoral’. The group called the arrests ‘shameful and chilling’ in comments reported by Novara Media.

Amnesty International UK also criticised the police action. Its chief executive, Kerry Moscogiuri, called the arrests of people holding placards a ‘truly shameful attack on freedom of speech’, according to the BBC and The Independent. She urged the new prime minister to consider reforms protecting people who gather to demonstrate.

The ban and the unresolved questions

Palestine Action was proscribed under the Terrorism Act in July 2025, Al Jazeera reported. The Home Office has said the ban does not prevent lawful protest in support of Palestinian causes. In comments reported by the BBC, it said the proscription followed an evidence-based process and cited criminal damage and findings about the group’s activities as reasons for defending the decision.

The ban remains the subject of a legal challenge. The BBC reported that the Supreme Court agreed in July to hear an appeal brought by a co-founder of Palestine Action. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the government would ‘robustly defend’ the appeal. Permission to appeal did not itself resolve whether the ban should stand.

The scale of the wider protest campaign is distinct from Sunday’s arrest count. Al Jazeera reported on 26 September that more than 3,600 people had been arrested for showing support for Palestine Action since the 2025 ban. At the Liverpool rally, the police total remained provisional, and the available accounts gave no final arrest figure or case-by-case outcome.