UK: Heckler condemns 'disgusting' arms sales to Israel during Rachel Reeves speech at Labour conference
British Chancellor Rachel Reeves was interrupted during her speech at the Labour Party conference by a pro-Palestine protest on Monday.
Middle East Eye spoke to one of the protesters, who was hauled out of the conference hall in Liverpool and held by police for an hour.
During the protest, Jack, aged 37, held up a banner which read: “Still arming Israel, still backing polluters”.
“The banner was grabbed by one of the zealous attendees who was sitting in front of me,” he said.
Meanwhile, his friend, who preferred not to be named, shouted “We are still selling arms to Israel” before being tackled by security personnel.
Video footage shows one guard grabbing him repeatedly around the throat and then knocking him over.
“One of the guards said, ‘You little weasel’, as he knocked him down,” Jack said. The pair were hauled out by several security personnel.
“I was knocked against the wall, pushed around, put in cuffs and held for an hour,” Jack added.
The brave protestor at Labour conference demanding an end to all arms sales to Israel reminds me of the party member who was dragged out of conference in 2005 for protesting the war in Iraq.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) September 23, 2024
Who was on the right side of history?
Both the protesters are Labour members - and members of an activist collective called Climate Resistance.
When asked by Middle East Eye about what prompted their protest, Jack responded: “The urgency of it all.”
“It’s disgusting and disgraceful that this government has decided to continue to send the vast majority of arms licenses to Israel as it carries out a genocide. And it continues to back polluters despite the fact that we’re in a climate crisis.”
In a post on X, Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the Labour Party who has since been elected as an independent MP, said: “The brave protestor at Labour conference demanding an end to all arms sales to Israel reminds me of the party member who was dragged out of conference in 2005 for protesting the war in Iraq.
“Who was on the right side of history?”
As the protesters were hauled out of the conference hall, Chancellor Reeves hit back at them, declaring: “This is a changed Labour Party.
“A Labour Party that represents working people, not a party of protests.”
Scottish National Party (SNP) MP Stephen Flynn slammed Reeves’ behaviour, saying: “If you were being heckled for selling arms to a government that has killed or injured over 100,000 civilians, you’d surely be minded to show just a little empathy.
“But then again, this is quite clearly a changed Labour Party.”
Yet Reeves’ comments as the protesters were removed from the hall received a standing ovation from the audience, mostly Labour delegates.
Jack told MEE he felt it “says a lot about the delegates and where the party has ended up over the last few years.
“We weren’t particularly popular in that hall.”
Despite the audience reaction, a recent poll showed that three-quarters of Labour members back a full ban on arms sales to Israel.