Pro-Palestine Action group plans mass vigil at Labour conference in Liverpool
Defend Our Juries says it will stage a 'mass, silent sign-holding vigil' in Liverpool on Sunday at the first Labour conference Andy Burnham will preside over, calling the action an 'integrity test' of the new leadership over the Palestine Action ban.
Protesters plan to rally in support of Palestine Action at the first Labour Party conference to be presided over by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday.
The “mass, silent sign-holding vigil” is planned for Sunday near the conference centre in Liverpool, said Defend Our Juries, the rights group organising rallies calling for the government to drop the ban on Palestine Action, which was proscribed as a “terrorist” group in July 2025.
The group described the action as an “integrity test of the new leadership’s commitment to ending Britain’s complicity in Israel’s ethnic cleansing and war crimes”. It said several hundred people were likely to attend and expected further arrests.
Since the ban took effect, a civil disobedience campaign has seen more than 3,600 people arrested for showing support for the group, often while holding signs reading “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”, Al Jazeera reported.
Burnham faced further scrutiny on Friday after Declassified UK, an investigative outlet focused on foreign policy, reported that it had been denied media passes to cover the conference, which runs from Sunday to Wednesday.
The prime minister has taken a stronger stance against illegal Israeli settlements and settler violence in the occupied West Bank than his predecessors, announcing sanctions earlier this month. Rights groups and activists have called on Labour to suspend all arms sales to Israel and to reverse the ban on Palestine Action, whose main target is Israel’s largest weapons maker, Elbit Systems.
Starmer was prime minister when the UK proscribed Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act.
Sources
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