Hundreds Set to Defy Palestine Action Ban at Labour Party Conference

Hundreds of people will hold signs reading ‘I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action’ outside the first Labour party conference since Andy Burnham came to power, campaigners have said.

The action – planned by Defend Our Juries (DOJ)  for the opening day of the  Liverpool conference on 27 September – is expected to result in mass arrests. 

Since its proscription in July 2025 under Keir Starmer’s leadership, police have arrested more than 3,600 people for showing support for Palestine Action. Officers have carried away hundreds of elderly and disabled people, as well as teachers, doctors and religious leaders.

The upcoming action is intended to put pressure on the new prime minister to depart from Keir Starmer’s policy of denying the genocide in Gaza and treating domestic dissent as terrorism. 

Campaigners note that an increasing number of Palestine Action activists are facing terrorism-related sentencing provisions in British courtrooms, despite not being charged with terrorism offences. 

Four activists from the group were the first to receive increased sentences in reference to a ‘terror connection’ in June. They plan to appeal their sentences, Novara Media revealed earlier this month. 

In July, the Metropolitan Police arrested multiple people in proximity to a DOJ rally even though they were not holding signs supporting Palestine Action. 

“They’re arresting people who seemingly aren’t in breach,” a DOJ spokesperson said at the time.

DOJ has praised new foreign secretary Ed Miliband for banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. However, campaigners are urging the government to go further by recognising the genocide in Gaza, halting arms exports to Israel and reversing the Palestine Action proscription.

“While Miliband’s announcement represents important progress, the Labour government is still ignoring the will of the British people,” a spokesperson said. 

“It was pressure from the British public – through protests, marches and at the ballot box – that forced this shift, and that pressure will not stop until the government finally ends arms exports to Israel and reverses the unprecedented attack on free speech unleashed by the proscription of Palestine Action.”