161 Arrested or Reported for Summons at Pro-Palestine Protest Outside Labour Conference
Merseyside Police dealt with a total of 161 people following a pro-Palestine demonstration outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Sunday. The force said 82 people were arrested on suspicion of wearing or carrying an article supporting a proscribed organisation. A further 79 were reported for summons in connection with the demonstration.
The 82 people arrested were taken into police custody before being released on bail. The figures were published in an official September 2026 bulletin titled "Update on arrests at protest in Liverpool" Merseyside Police. The total was 161.
The protest was organised by Defend Our Juries and took place outside the conference centre in Liverpool city centre The Guardian. Many protesters held handmade banners expressing support for the banned group Palestine Action. Merseyside Police estimated that 180 people attended. Defend Our Juries claimed more than 200 people took part.
Police said not everyone present at the protest was committing a criminal offence. The distinction matters. Officers drew a line between attendance and the specific act of wearing or carrying an article deemed to support a proscribed organisation. That is the suspicion on which the 82 arrests turned.
Defend Our Juries said one of those arrested was 94-year-old human rights barrister Margaret Owen. Separately, two activists confronted Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband about the arrests during a meal at a Pizza Express in Liverpool city centre. The number arrested this year is 16 more than were arrested at a similar pro-Palestine demonstration on the first day of Labour's conference last year in Liverpool.
The broader context here is the choice of venue and the form of protest. A demonstration outside a governing party's conference is designed to force engagement from ministers and delegates inside. It also places police under close political and media observation. The use of handmade banners, rather than printed placards, suggests a decentralised mode of participation that is harder to police in advance and easier to replicate.
Looking at what this means for the days ahead, the split between arrest and summons bears watching. Custody followed by bail keeps the immediate incident contained. Reports for summons move any decision to charge into a slower, paper-based process. For organisers, the competing attendance estimates are part of the contest over legitimacy. For police, the emphasis that mere presence was not an offence is part of managing legality and proportionality. What follows will turn on how those summons cases proceed, how bail conditions are applied, and whether further demonstrations during the conference adopt the same tactics.
