94-year-old human rights lawyer among hundreds of protestors arrested in test of Burnham’s mettle

Nearly 4,000 people have now been arrested for peacefully supporting Palestine Action since it was designated a terror group in July 2025

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Scores of police hauled away more than 230 demonstrators who sat outside the conference in Liverpool holding home-made signs which read: “I support Palestine Action.”

Many of those arrested for alleged terror offences were pensioners, who chanted “free, free Palestine” every time a supporter was carried away.

They included 94-year-old human rights barrister Margaret Owen OBE, now thought to be Britain’s oldest alleged terrorist, and 63-year-old ecologist Jonathan Hill. 

Mr Hill said: “I’m here today because I want to test Andy Burnham’s mettle. I want to give him a dilemma and the opportunity to show what kind of man he is.”

Retired teacher Teresa Garlake, 63, added: “I am here to urge the PM to reflect on who the real terrorists are.

“This will be the eighth time I have held a sign, in solidarity with the people of Gaza, which is likely to lead to my arrest. It continues to be a great honour.”

Nearly 4,000 people have been arrested for peacefully supporting Palestine Action in protests organised by Defend Our Juries since it was designated a terror group in July 2025.

Massive Attack member Robert Del Naja (also known as 3D) joined their number as thousands attended a pro-Palestine demonstration calling for an end to all arms sales to Israel outside the ACC Liverpool on Saturday.

Mr Burnham has yet to comment on the ban since taking over from Sir Keir Starmer despite the TUC and more than seven in 10 Labour party members opposing it.

Defend Our Juries spokesman Tim Crosland told the Morning Star: “This is the first major sign holding action since Andy Burnham became PM.

“And it is a pretty clear reminder that nothing has really changed because if you’re still arresting people quietly opposing the genocide and you’re still allowing Elbit Systems to send drones to the Israeli Defence Forces with impunity, it tells pretty much all you need to know.”

Dozens of leading US academics published an open letter today urging Mr Burnham to lift the ban on the group that took direct action on British sites of Israel’s biggest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems.

Feminist philosopher Judith Butler, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine author Rashid Khalidi and political scientist Norman Finkelstein warned the proscription is “indefensible.”

Leading human rights lawyer Michael Mansfield KC, who worked with Mr Burnham on the Hillsborough inquiry, Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori, and Mr Del Naja also published a video message urging the PM to de-proscribe the group on Saturday.

A Momentum spokesman said: “It should not be a criminal offence to protest against the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”

Communist Party general secretary Alex Gordon said that Mr Burnham had been given “the clearest possible message” that Palestine is “an unhealed scar on Labour’s record in government.”

“”It hasn’t gone away,” he added. “Hope can’t distract from the reality of Israel’s continuing genocide of Palestinians and UK complicity in illegal wars in the Middle East.”

Amnesty International UK chief executive Kerry Moscogiuri said: “The arrests of grandparents, teenagers and everyone in between for holding placards outside the Labour Party conference are a truly shameful attack on freedom of speech.”

US president Donald Trump recently named Palestine Action as a global terror group after its members spray-painted his Scottish golf course with the message “Gaza Is Not For Sale.”

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said: “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.

“Continuing the charade of the proscription of Palestine Action is illogical, unsustainable and immoral.

“Hundreds of people, from professions including teachers, pensioners, and healthcare workers, are willing to be arrested today to let Andy Burnham know that it is not enough just to say that Israel is committing war crimes including ethnic cleansing in Gaza, he must take meaningful action to end UK complicity with Israel’s crimes.

“The first step the PM could do today, from the podium of his inaugural party conference is to commit to ending the prosecution and jailing of people as terrorists just for standing up against war crimes and genocide.”