Youth Demand activists target Labour Party conference with ‘genocide’ graffiti

Supporters from the political activist group Youth Demand have painted the words ‘Genocide Conference’ on the front entrance of the Labour Party conference.

Two supporters from the organisation spray painted the words at around 10.50am this morning at the security check-in of the Liverpool conference.

It appears they were able to manage to spray 12 windows before security noticed and they were tackled by plain clothes police officers and arrested.

The group, which stemmed from the student branch of Just Stop Oil, said it is calling for a ‘two-way arms embargo on Israel and for the new UK government to halt all new oil and gas licences granted since 2021’.

It comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ big conference speech was disrupted by Gaza protesters yesterday.

The two activists are chased down by plain clothes police officers before being arrested

Workers attempt to clean off graffiti that read ‘Genocide’ from a ‘Welcome’ sign

Another look at workers attempting to clean the outside of the entrance to the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpoo

The group said it is calling for a ‘two-way arms embargo on Israel and for the new UK government to halt all new oil and gas licences granted since 2021’

A Youth Demand spokesperson said: ‘Labour is still arming Israel despite a majority of the public backing a complete arms embargo. Despite admitting there is a ‘clear risk’ of ‘serious violation of international humanitarian law’, they have spinelessly suspended less than 10% of arms licenses.

‘They claim their national conference is ‘democracy in action’. This is a joke when in reality Labour sold our democracy to arms and fossil fuel companies. 

‘Just last week it was revealed Starmer accepted a £4,000,000 donation from a hedge fund with hundreds of millions of pounds worth of shares in fossil fuels and weapons.’

‘History shows us that it will take ordinary people stepping into disruptive action to get us the real arms embargo we need.’

It comes after hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on Liverpool’s waterfront to coincide with the start of the Labour event. 

Protestes were seen holding up a sign calling for a ceasefire and to ‘stop the genocide’. 

Labour conference descended into chaos yesterday as Rachel Reeves’ big speech was disrupted by a Gaza protest

When the demonstrator was removed Ms Reeves swiped that Labour is ‘not a party of protest’ any more before continuing

The Chancellor was addressing delegates in Liverpool when a member of the audience started shouting that the UK is still supplying arms to Israel – forcing her to stop

The protester was wrestled out of the conference hall during the speech 

The disruption happened as Ms Reeves was getting into her crunch address to activists 

The Unite union also staged a protest outside the conference venue in Liverpool yesterday to coincide with the Chancellor’s appearance – despite the heavy rain

In Ms Reeves’ speech yesterday, she also braved chaos early in her address, when two members of the audience started shouting that the UK is not tackling the climate crisis and still supplying arms to Israel – forcing her to stop. 

After they were removed Ms Reeves swiped that Labour is ‘not a party of protest’ any more before continuing with her uncompromising message. 

One of the protestors who took action, Danny Lusardi, 23, a graduate from Lancaster, said: ‘The Labour government has admitted the arms it’s selling to Israel are being used for war crimes. But still they’re happy to keeping licensing 90% of those sales. We’re here to show them the British public can’t accept that.’ 

‘It’s our duty as citizens to hold our government to account. When they won’t listen to the democratic will of the people, that means breaking windows and spraying paint.’ 

‘As we approach a year of watching Israel’s genocide on the news and social media, it’s time to ask ourselves: are we serious about ending it now?’