PRO-PALESTINE activists with keffiyehs chanting “free, free Palestine”.
The far-right flying England flags, filming content for their YouTube channels and shouting abuse into megaphones.
Dozens of farmers and three tractor trailers protesting against the inheritance tax rise.
Placards railing against the recent digital ID announcement.
Steve Bray in full anti-Brexit garb.
Well over a hundred police officers frantically arranging themselves into cordons.
A fair few anti-vaxxers.
Such was the scene – a veritable cauldron of discontent – that welcomed attendees to UK Labour conference 2025 on Sunday.
One thing united those who chose to protest outside the ACC centre in Liverpool today – anger at Keir Starmer’s government.
But only 50 of them were actively risking arrest – they sat quietly on the grass nearby holding handwritten placards reading "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action".
Palestine Action was banned as a terror organisation in July by the Labour Government after the group claimed responsibility for an action protesting the UK Government’s continued arms sales to Israel amid its genocide in Gaza in which two Voyager planes were damaged at RAF Brize Norton the previous month.
Many – including protest group Defend Our Juries, which organises these protests – have condemned it, with recent protests leading to hundreds of arrests.
I spoke to one of those risking arrest beforehand, Keith Hackett – a 71-year-old former Labour councillor from Liverpool – who said he was “very apprehensive” going into it.
“[But] there's a genocide going on and someone has to stand up and say it's wrong. More than that, the proscription of Palestine Action has been completely and utterly wrong,” he said.
“There's all sorts of reasons to oppose it. We all have our different reasons, people who will sit down today and get arrested. Some are about freedom of speech, some are about the right to protest. They're all obviously about opposing the genocide. In my case, I've lived long enough to see direct action eroded over my lifetime.”
32-year-old Astrid Madsen (above), who was also taking part, added: “We demand that the UK Government lift the ban on Palestine Action, restoring our democratic right to protest, and we demand that they accept that this assault on the Palestinian people is a genocide. They need to call it a genocide and impose sanctions and end all military trade and cooperation with Israel.
She added: “Terror laws are being abused by the UK Government, people are facing up to 14 years in prison for holding up a piece of paper.”
Another participant, Tayo Aluko, 63, an actor, writer and singer from Liverpool, said: “This Government, like all authoritarian regimes in modern times, wants to plant fear in the citizens so that it can continue to let their friends and paymasters get away with genocide.
“This is a time for bravery, as was shown by people who went before us, so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have today, which are now under threat.
“I feel I have no choice but to stand up and be counted.”
The arrests did eventually happen. The first, a middle-aged bald man, shouted “we will change the law” as he was frogmarched away to loud cheers.
Another, an elderly woman, was carried by officers to cries of “shame on you”.
The chaos outside could be heard from well within the Labour conference complex. For the protesters, the question was: will they listen?
At 7:30pm - 5 hours after it started - police still haven't arrested everyone.
Around 25 remain.
Labour conference attendees file in for evening drinks at events sponsored by the party and various corporate donors.
"It's a total farce," one of the protesters tells me.
