Labour MP urges pro-Palestine protesters to keep marching as battle intensifies

A Labour MP has urged pro-Palestine protesters to continue marching, as she was heckled at the Labour conference.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy told a fringe event called Justice for Palestine that “the conflict is intensifying, so our political lobbying must intensify as a result”.

During her speech in Liverpool, a heckler called on the MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill to resign from Labour, before accusing the party of being “racist”.

On Monday, Ms Ribeiro-Addy said: “We represent the majority, both the global majority, and the clear majority in this country – the question is how to turn that majority into action and into a change of policy.

“The conflict is intensifying, so our political lobbying must intensify as a result.

“All the marches and the lobbying must continue, all the local meetings must continue, so must the letter writing, take to your local radio station phone-in, write to your local newspaper, canvas outside your local supermarket on a Saturday morning.”

Intervening, the heckler shouted: “And resign from the Labour Party, resign.”

This was met with shouts of “shut up” and “nonsense” from other members of the audience.

Ms Riberio-Addy continued: “Horrific things have been happening since 1948, and unfortunately even this phase of the conflict looks like it will be a prolonged one. So we have to be prepared for both an intense struggle and a prolonged one.”

Later in the session, the heckler shouted: “The Labour Party is a racist party.”

Speakers at the event also called on the Labour Government to do more to protect Palestinians and ban arms sales to Israel.

Sara Husseini, director of the British Palestinian Committee, said: “If you think about what it means to continue to supply arms to Israel … last week the Gaza Ministry of Health published a list of all the Palestinian bodies, the people that had been killed that they’ve managed so far to identify – only the ones they’ve managed to identify.

“The first 14 pages were babies under the age of one.

“So a partial suspension is absolutely inadequate, it’s inconsistent with international law, and it really confirms the Government and the UK’s repeated failures to fulfil basic obligation of international law.”

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: “A Labour Government should be sanctioning Israel, not promising it an enhanced trade deal.

“A Labour Government should be imposing a two-wave arms embargo on Israel, not purchasing weapons.”