The footage of a protester at the Labour conference being forcibly removed has gone viral on social media. However, many people – including the Canary – made the assumption that the person who got the young lad in a chokehold and dragged him out was security. We now know it wasn’t. It was actually a Labour Party councillor.
Labour conference: no dissenters allowed
As the Canary previously reported, a protester from Climate Resistance disrupted chancellor Rachel Reeves’ keynote speech on the second day of the Labour conference in Liverpool, in protest against the new government’s support for polluters and arms sales to Israel.
The activists from campaign group Climate Resistance infiltrated the Labour conference audience. They unfurled a banner reading “Still backing polluters, still arming Israel – we voted for change”.
“We are still selling arms to Israel! I thought we voted for change, Rachel!” the protestor shouted.
Shockingly, what everyone though at first to be security can be seen getting the guy in a chokehold in an attempt to remove him from the conference floor:
However, in a twist or irony it is thanks to Tom Harwood of GB News – who the Canary previously complained about – that we now know it wasn’t security.
In fact, it appears to be Labour Party councillor Harbinder Singh:
Uncanny likeness – no?
NEW: Wolverhampton Councillors have got in touch to tell me they are sure the man who throttled the protester in the hall is Wolverhampton Labour Councillor Harbinder Singh. https://t.co/xVRDzbOKBp pic.twitter.com/V9q6XqAIRj
— Tom Harwood (@tomhfh) September 23, 2024
Security at the conference were also wearing uniform. Whereas the choke holder is in a suit.
It wasn’t just Harwood saying it, either. This is former Labour, now independent Wolverhampton councillor Celia Hibbert – who campaigned with Singh:
Could this be #Councillor Harbinder Singh in @WolvesCouncil grabbing the poor man’s neck? If so, then I’m not surprised because of the level of intimidation and bullying that goes on unchecked within the Wolverhampton #Labour Group. https://t.co/gddI3xgCe9 pic.twitter.com/P5GBa7FOBE
— Cllr. Celia Hibbert (CeeCee) (@CeliaHibbert) September 23, 2024
Who needs security?
The Canary contacted Wolverhampton City Council, the Labour group, and Singh himself for comment. We asked if it was Singh who removed the young protester from the conference floor. However, we had not received any responses at the time of publication.
If the perpetrator is Singh, then it shows how Starmer’s intolerance of dissent is also abundant at grassroots level – not that that’s anything new. Canary columnist Rachael Swindon recently highlighted how this situation was “reminiscent of the violent removal of Walter Wolfgang, then 83, who was forcibly evicted from Labour’s 2005 conference for shouting “nonsense” during a speech by Jack Straw”:
Imagine Walter Wolfgang in today’s Labour Party. A left-wing Jewish ex-CND vice president and vocal supporter of Stop The War wouldn’t last five minutes in the party and even less time in the Labour conference hall.
Indeed. Who needs security at the Labour conference – when you have subservient members doing their job for them?
Featured image via the Canary
