Police arrest 66 protesters outside Labour Party conference following Palestine Action demonstration
Around 100 people were seen protesting outside the conference venue on Merseyside
Police have arrested at least 66 protesters outside Labour's annual conference in Liverpool at a demo supporting the banned group Palestine Action.
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Two were later released but the other 64 who were arrested on suspicion of a terrorism offence and were taken into custody, Merseyside Police said on Monday.
“Some of the people in attendance displayed material in support of Palestine Action, who are a proscribed terrorism organisation,” Merseyside Police said in a statement.
About 100 people had gathered silently, holding signs reading: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”, protest group Defend Our Juries said.
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Palestine Action was proscribed as a terror organisation in July after the group claimed responsibility for an action in which two Voyager planes were damaged at RAF Brize Norton the previous month.
A spokesman for Defend Our Juries said: “Instead of shutting down protest, it’s time the Labour Party took the responsibility to prevent genocide seriously and impose blanket sanctions on Israel including stopping the flow of arms from factories in this country.”
During the protest, Keith Hackett, 71, said: “I’m risking arrest today under terrorism legislation because, as a former Labour councillor in Liverpool, I am deeply ashamed of how Labour are acting.
“They need to recognise that direct action has been a fundamental part of the gains that have been in the labour movement.”
Tayo Aluko, 63, an actor, writer and singer from Liverpool, said: “This Government, like all authoritarian regimes in modern times, wants to plant fear in the citizens so that it can continue to let their friends and paymasters get away with genocide.”
Israel denies any genocide is taking place during its conflict with terror-group Hamas in Gaza.
Kerry Moscogiuri, Amnesty International UK’s director of communications and campaigns, said: “These arrests should not be happening. It’s clearly both ridiculous and seriously disproportionate for police to be targeting and arresting people for sitting down, quietly holding a sign.”