A pro-Palestine activist was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer outside the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool on Tuesday evening.

She was alleged to have thrown a phone at a police officer’s face; the JC understands that the officer was not seriously hurt.

The woman had been part of a group of protesters – some of whom were masked in keffiyehs – who had gathered near one of the entrance points to the conference area, access to which required accreditation and a security search.

Pro-Palestine protesters in Liverpool. Credit: Lorin Bell-Cross

The small crowd of around two dozen could be heard chanting “let her go” as the woman, identified by the police as being 19 years old and local, was being detained.

After a short while, six officers, some in plain clothes, were seen physically removing the suspect through the conference’s secure zone and away from the gathered activists.

Merseyside Police said in a statement: “We arrested a woman outside the ACC Liverpool yesterday (Tuesday 24 September) after a mobile phone was thrown at a police officer’s face.

“At around 6pm, officers approached a woman in a group of protestors as she was suspected of carrying forged passes.

“The suspect was detained and as she was led away, she threw a mobile phone at the officer, striking her on the face causing swelling to her lip.”

They went on, “A 19-year-old woman from Liverpool city centre was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable in the execution of their duty. She remains in custody.”

Both the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s speech yesterday and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves’s on Monday were interrupted by hecklers chanting pro-Palestine slogans.

Both quickly retorted about how the heckles signified a changed Labour Party focused more on government rather than protest.