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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Alasdair Ferguson

Pro-Palestine campaigner interrupts Keir Starmer's conference speech

A PRO-PALESTINE protester has interrupted Keir Starmer's speech at the Labour Conference.

The Prime Minister was in the middle of talking about how every child’s contribution should be heard when a person in the crowd began shouting about the war in Gaza.

The person reportedly shouted: “What about the children of Gaza?"

“Those opportunities don't go to every child do they?"

As the person was ushered out the hall Starmer said: “This guy obviously has a pass from the 2019 conference.”

Both Starmer and the crowd start laughing as the person was intercepted by security. 

He then said: “We changed the party.”

The crowd at the conference started to cheer and clap loudly after the Prime Minister's comments as the person was removed from the hall.

After around 10-15 seconds of cheering from the crowd, Starmer then said: “While he’s been protesting we’ve been changing the party, that’s why we got a Labour government.”

The crowd began to cheer and clap again at Starmer's comments before he continued with his speech.

Rachel Reeves’s address at the Labour Party conference yesterday was similarly interrupted by a protester who shouted about the sale of arms to Israel before he was removed from the hall.

After the protester was removed Reeves said: “Labour was no longer a party of protest”.

Campaign group Climate Resistance claimed responsibility for yesterday's protest.

The campaigner who was “brutally” removed from the hall spoke to The National about his experience which he said “he wasn’t expecting”.

The man, who wishes not to be named, said: “There was a bit of grabbing on the neck, which was pretty shocking.”

He showed The National red marks on his neck and wrists where he was grabbed by the event's security.

Earlier in his speech Starmer announced that GB Energy will be headquartered in Aberdeen.

He said: said: “We said GB Energy – our publicly-owned national champion, the vehicle that will drive forward our mission on clean energy – we said it belonged in Scotland. And it does.

“But the truth is, it could only really be based in one place in Scotland. So today I can confirm that the future of British energy will be powered, as it has been for decades, by the talent and skills of the working people in the Granite City with GB Energy based in Aberdeen.”

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