Two Youth Demand supporters have taken action at the Labour conference by painting ‘GENOCIDE CONFERENCE’ on the front entrance. Youth Demand are 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.
Labour conference IS a genocide conference
At around 10:50am on Tuesday 24 September, two Youth Demand supporters walked up to the security check-in building, where all guests must pass through, of the Labour Party conference being held in Liverpool and spray pained ‘GENOCIDE’ and were part way through writing ‘CONFERENCE’ before they were tackled by plain clothes police officers and arrested:
Labour claims their national conference is ‘democracy in action’.
This is a fucking joke. In reality they have sold our democracy to arms and fossil fuel companies. We will not allow their death project to continue.
Make radical actions possible: https://t.co/AYrnfqCNPX pic.twitter.com/vNmW9RnB31
— Youth Demand (@youth_demand) September 24, 2024
A Youth Demand spokesperson said of the Labour conference:
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. From October, we’re taking to the streets all across the country – sign up to join us youthdemand.org/take-action.
Youth Demand are one of the groups supporting the nonviolent demonstration ‘POLITICS IS BROKEN – THE UMBRELLA MARCH‘ due to be held by Umbrella on 2 November, leaving from Parliament Square at 2pm.
Not listening to the public
One of those taking action at the Labour conference was Danny Lusardi, 23, a graduate from Lancaster. He 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?
All this comes after another incident involving protesters.
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, security can be seen getting the guy in a chokehold in an attempt to remove him from the conference floor:
A Youth Demand spokesperson said:
Young people will not stand by as long as governments are supporting genocide. We deserve better. Young people all over the country are coming together to resist. Youth Demand is taking all across the country in October.
You can sign up for action at on the Youth Demand website here.
Featured image and additional images via Youth Demand
