Rachel Reeves heckled at Labour conference by protester slamming UK arms exports to Israel

A pro-Palestine protester questioned Britain's arms sales to Israel at the annual Labour Party Conference on Monday.

A 24-year-old man interrupted the chancellor, Rachel Reeves' speech at the ACC Arena in Liverpool.

A video of the incident which circulated online showed the protester saying: "We are still selling arms to Israel. I thought we were supposed to be changed, Rachel," in reference to the conference's theme being "change begins".

Two men also held up a banner reading: "Still backing polluters, still arming Israel – we voted for change".

A man was seen putting his arm around the protester's neck and dragging him through the crowd, after which the protester was removed from the venue by security personnel.

In response to the incident, Reeves said: "This is a changed Labour Party, a Labour Party that represents working people, not a party of protest."

Speaking to Hyphen, the 24-year-old was arrested on suspicion of breaching the peace, put in handcuffs and was detained in a police van for an hour.

He says the police used "a lot of excessive force", and an officer kicked the back of his leg at one point.

The Labour Party had contacted the protester and suspended his membership to "protect the party from real and lasting harm".

Climate campaign group Climate Resistance defended the incident, with its spokesperson Sam Simons saying: "Labour promised us change – instead, we're getting more of the same. The same pandering to the fossil fuel industry; the same arms licences that are fuelling a genocide in Gaza, and the same austerity that sees the poorest hit hardest."

Simons said: "It's time for Labour to start putting the needs of people before the interests of profit," meaning to stop arms licences to Israel and block new oil and gas.

The Labour Party conference began as 15,000 pro-Palestine protesters marched against Britain's arms sales to Israel.

The party's managers had blocked the words "genocide" and "apartheid" from being used in brochures at a side event during the conference, according to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

The governing party had suspended a total of 30 out of 350 arms licences to Israel in early September, as there was a risk such weapons might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law.