On the first full day of the UK Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool on September 27, 2026, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the city’s Exhibition Centre to stage a coordinated act of civil disobedience, demanding the new Andy Burnham government reverse the controversial proscription of the direct action group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization. Organized by the advocacy group Defend Our Juries, the demonstration brought together veteran activists, young organizers, and even a prominent 94-year-old Jewish human rights barrister, all willing to face arrest to challenge what they call state complicity in human rights abuses in Gaza.
Palestine Action, a group that organizes non-violent direct action targeting firms manufacturing weapons for export to Israel, was designated a terrorist group by the previous Keir Starmer-led government in July 2025. Under the proscription order, any public expression of support for the organization carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison, a move that human rights groups have widely condemned as draconian and an assault on civil liberties. Thousands of people have already been arrested across the UK for violating the ban since it took effect.
Many of the protesters gathered on Sunday were repeat offenders, preparing for additional arrests in a sustained campaign to overturn the ban. Among them was 57-year-old Carolyn Gelenter, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, who was preparing for her fifth arrest on terrorism charges connected to the protest movement. Standing outside the conference venue with a handwritten placard, Gelenter explained that she hoped to pressure Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has hinted at a break from Starmer’s hardline pro-Israel policies, to reverse the proscription.
“I think it’s really important that non-Jewish people know it’s OK to speak out about Israel, because you’re speaking out against a political ideology of Zionism, which is not Judaism,” Gelenter told reporters, noting that many Jewish communities across the UK oppose Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. She added that rank-and-file police officers appeared ambivalent about the mass arrests, with many likely seeing the operation as a waste of public resources that they were only carrying out to follow official orders.
Twenty-five-year-old activist Joe, who joined the demonstration prepared to be taken into custody, echoed Gelenter’s criticism of the ban. “Ultimately, our government’s complicit in genocide and it’s up to ordinary people to take a stand. Palestine Action needs to be de-proscribed. It’s not a terrorist organisation, everyone knows that,” he said. “The fact that there are pensioners here today being arrested, for being supposed terrorists, everyone can see how ridiculous that is.” Joe added that he accepted the consequences of his action, noting that historic progress on civil rights and ending systems of oppression has always depended on ordinary people willing to accept personal risk to stand for justice.
Unlike the rapid mass arrest operations police have carried out at similar demonstrations in London, Sunday’s arrests unfolded slowly at the Liverpool site, with officers taking roughly five minutes per arrest. Some protesters stood and complied with officers, while others refused to stand and had to be carried away by police, followed by a crowd of press photographers. As each arrest was completed, remaining demonstrators cheered loudly and thanked the activists for their action.
The standoff stretched into the early morning, with the last arrests completed around midnight. After a 16-hour confrontation, police departed the site at 5 a.m. the next day. According to final figures from Defend Our Juries, approximately 150 protesters were arrested during the demonstration. Margaret Owen, the 94-year-old Jewish barrister, was among those taken into custody, holding a raised fist in defiance as officers escorted her away.
Since taking office, Prime Minister Burnham has publicly avoided commenting on the Palestine Action ban, despite recently taking a step away from Starmer’s policies by officially sanctioning illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Protesters say they hope sustained pressure will convince Burnham to reverse the proscription. In a statement after the demonstration, a Defend Our Juries spokesperson reiterated the group’s demand that the new government scrap the ban immediately.
“We had hoped the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, would do the sensible thing and bin the ban on Palestine Action given the weight of public pressure to do so and the escalating amount of resources required in enforcing it,” the spokesperson said. “Continuing the charade of the proscription of Palestine Action is illogical, unsustainable and immoral.”
The demonstration remained largely peaceful throughout, with a jovial atmosphere among activists in the hours before the planned civil disobedience, and a solemn tone as protesters prepared for arrest. The gathering included a dedicated “Jewish bloc” of protesters, who joined other demonstrators in posing for photos ahead of the action, highlighting that opposition to Israel’s policies and the proscription ban does not come from outside the Jewish community.