Over 50 held as officers move on Palestine Action supporters outside Labour conference

More than 50 protesters were arrested on the streets outside the Labour Party's annual conference in Liverpool, after a demonstration in support of the banned group Palestine Action. Merseyside Police confirmed that officers had detained more than 50 people and were continuing to make arrests on suspicion of wearing or carrying an article supporting a proscribed organisation.

The protest, staged under the banner of the Defend More Our Juries campaign, drew a sizeable crowd. According to the BBC, more than 250 demonstrators sat down outside the conference centre, many of them holding home-made banners declaring support for Palestine Action. Images from the scene show police officers in yellow high-visibility jackets physically removing supporters from the pavement, with others standing in lines nearby watching.

Officers are said to have spent some time observing the gathering before intervening. According to reports from the demonstration, police warned participants that displaying signs in support of a proscribed organisation was itself illegal, and asked them whether they intended to continue. When protesters did not stand down, officers began escorting individuals away, telling them they were being arrested under the Terrorism Act.

A Merseyside Police spokesperson said the force balances the right to protest against the need to keep the peace and protect the public. The force said it makes "detailed and co-ordinated plans" for major events so that enforcement is applied consistently, fairly and proportionately, adding that officers had not treated everyone at the demonstration as committing a criminal offence.

The mood among the crowd was one of defiance rather than submission. Demonstrators reportedly cheered each time a protester was carried away or led off by officers, treating every removal as a point of pride. One of those detained was Margaret Owen, a human rights barrister aged 94 — a detail cited by campaigners and commentators as illustrating the age range of those appearing in court over the group's proscription.

Defend Our Juries criticised the operation and the ban itself. In a statement, a spokesperson said the group had hoped the new prime minister, Andy Burnham, would scrap the proscription given the strength of public pressure to do so and the growing resources needed to enforce it. The spokesperson described the continued criminalisation of Palestine Action as illogical, unsustainable and immoral, and framed the enforcement operation as a "charade".

Amnesty International UK also condemned the arrests, describing them as a shameful attack on freedom of speech. Kerry Moscogiuri, the organisation's UK chief executive, said protesting remains one of the most effective tools available for communities trying to make leaders listen, and that consecutive governments had steadily eroded that right. He said the detention of "grandparents, teenagers and everyone in between" for holding placards outside a party conference was a disgrace, and directly challenged the prime minister to reform the laws so that people can gather and demonstrate on the issues they care about.

The legal framework behind the arrests has been months in the making. Palestine Action was proscribed in July 2025, which made it a criminal offence to wear, carry or otherwise display items — including banners and clothing — expressing support for the group. Police said officers were acting on suspicion of precisely that offence.

Judicial backing for the ban has been substantial but not unreserved. Both the High Court and the Court of Appeal have accepted that the group's activities have included criminal acts, though the judges were divided over whether that conduct justified using terrorism legislation to ban it. In June, the Court of Appeal ruled that the proscription was lawful, a decision that left campaigners with a further route to challenge the ban in front of the country's highest court.

In July it was confirmed that the proscription would be reviewed by the Supreme Court, after the court granted permission to the group's co-founder to appeal. Footage from outside Westminster Magistrates' Court that month showed demonstrators gathering to demand the ban be lifted, reflecting a campaign that has moved between the streets, the magistrates' courts and the appellate courts over the past year.

The government has consistently defended the ban. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said shortly after the appeal was permitted that the government would robustly defend it in the Supreme Court. The Home Office has repeatedly stressed that the proscription is not a response to protest in support of Palestinian causes, but a targeted measure because the group was, in its view, causing significant criminal damage to legitimate businesses.

The confrontation in Liverpool puts fresh pressure on a government that is already defending the ban in its highest form. It is the first large test of how the Terrorism Act proscription is enforced on the streets during a major political event, and it again sets campaigners and the government on opposite sides of a long-running argument about the line between protest and criminality. BBC News has asked the Ministry of Justice to comment.