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British police detained more than fifty demonstrators outside the Labour Party's annual conference in Liverpool on Sunday, in a mass arrest operation that has intensified an already heated national argument over protest rights and the government's treatment of a banned activist network.
Merseyside Police confirmed the arrests in a statement issued the same day, saying those taken into custody had displayed material supporting Palestine Action, an organization the Labour government outlawed as a "terrorist" group in July 2025 under the Terrorism Act. The demonstration was organized by Defend Our Juries, a campaign group that has coordinated much of the civil disobedience that has followed the proscription.
The timing of the protest was deliberate. It coincided with the opening day of the party's annual gathering, where newly installed Prime Minister Andy Burnham was making his first conference appearance as leader. Organizers said they wanted the ban to be forced to the top of his agenda rather than allowed to fade into the background of the party's wider policy program.
According to witness accounts, more than 250 people sat down outside the conference center holding placards expressing support for the outlawed group. For a period, the scene remained peaceful. Then dozens of officers moved in, asking demonstrators individually whether they intended to keep holding their signs. Those who answered yes were led away and informed they were being arrested under the Terrorism Act.
Al Jazeera correspondent Milena Veselinovic, reporting from Liverpool, said the participants were determined to place the proscription "front and centre of the UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham's agenda" on the first day of his party's conference. The choice of venue ensured maximum media visibility and put the government's security legislation directly in the path of its own political calendar.
One protester framed the decision to risk arrest in starkly moral terms. "Being arrested is nothing in comparison to what the people in Gaza are going through, and it's also worth it, because this is about our right to free speech," the demonstrator told Al Jazeera. Another described the crowd as diverse and civic-minded, noting that "there are priests, there are healthcare workers, there are people who deeply care, and deeply care about right and wrong."
The arrests drew a sharp response from human rights organizations. Kerry Moscogiuri, chief executive of Amnesty International UK, described protesting as "one of the most effective tools" available to citizens seeking to make government leaders listen, and characterized the detentions as "a truly shameful attack on freedom of speech." She directed a pointed question at the new prime minister, asking whether he would reform the laws so that communities are protected when they gather to demonstrate on issues they care about, adding: "Will he do so?"
Merseyside Police defended its conduct. In its statement, the force said it had respected the rights of people to protest lawfully while seeking to keep the peace and ensure public safety. Such language is standard in UK policing communications, but it has increasingly come under scrutiny from civil liberties groups who argue that the neutral framing obscures the political consequences of enforcing a controversial ban.
The confrontations were not confined to the street. Activists also approached Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband inside a restaurant in Liverpool, pressing him to lift the ban on the group and to declare that Israel's actions in Gaza amount to genocide. According to the account, the activists left after Miliband declined to comment. The episode added a direct, personal dimension to a protest that had already generated dozens of criminal cases.
Palestine Action was proscribed in July 2025 under the Terrorism Act, a decision that made membership in or support for the group a criminal offense carrying potentially severe penalties. The move was part of a broader government effort to restrict organizations it links to disruptive direct-action campaigns, but critics contend it criminalizes political expression rather than genuinely targeted violence.
The ban has been contested in court. A UK court ruled in June 2026 that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organization was lawful, a judgment that closed off one legal avenue for opponents while leaving political and public pressure campaigns very much alive. The ruling did not resolve the underlying argument about whether the designation is proportionate or compatible with free expression protections.
Since the proscription took effect, a sustained civil disobedience campaign has emerged across the country. More than 3,600 people have been arrested for showing support for the group, frequently while holding signs that read, "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action." The sheer volume of arrests suggests a strategy of mass non-compliance designed to overwhelm the enforcement system and force a political reckoning.
That strategy places police in a difficult position. Officers are obliged to enforce the law as written, yet each enforcement action generates images of ordinary people being led away for holding signs, which in turn fuels recruitment for the very campaign the ban was meant to suppress. Sunday's operation in Liverpool fit that pattern precisely.
For the Labour government, the controversy presents competing pressures. Ministers must defend the terrorism designation and the police who enforce it, while also facing warnings from human rights bodies and legal experts that the approach may be eroding longstanding protections for peaceful assembly. The presence of the protest at the party's own conference amplifies that tension considerably.
The Liverpool arrests are unlikely to be the final chapter. Defend Our Juries and allied groups have signaled that further actions are planned, and the scale of the campaign shows no sign of shrinking. Each round of detentions adds to a growing body of testimony from protesters who say they are willing to accept criminal records in exchange for keeping the issue in public view.
What happens next may depend less on the courts than on politics. The prime minister has so far given no indication that he intends to revisit the proscription, and the government has treated the legal challenges as settled. Yet the demonstrations outside his party's conference, and the 3,600 arrests that preceded them, suggest that the question of Palestine Action's status will remain a live and disruptive feature of British political life for some time to come.
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