英最大野党の党大会に活動家乱入、党首にグリッター掛け抗議

【リバプールＡＦＰ＝時事】英イングランド北西部リバプールで１０日、野党・労働党の党大会でキア・スターマー党首に、活動家の男がグリッター（光を反射する装飾用素材）を掛ける騒動が起こった。男は警備員に拘束された後、警察に逮捕された。（写真は、英リバプールで行われた労働党の党大会で、活動家にグリッターを掛けられるキア・スターマー党首）
　スターマー氏は基調講演のため演台に立ったところ、乱入して来た男に頭や肩にグリッターを浴びせられた。男は「真の民主主義は市民主導」「政治の刷新を」などのスローガンを叫んでいた。
　新興団体「ピープル・デマンド・デモクラシー」が、英国の政治制度改革を訴えるため、自分たちが行ったものだと主張している。
　マーシーサイド警察によると男は２８歳で、暴行、治安妨害、公的不法妨害の疑いで逮捕された。
　ピープル・デマンド・デモクラシーは、総選挙での比例代表制度の導入などを求めている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/10/11-17:03）

Police in Britain arrested an activist heckler who scattered glitter Tuesday on opposition leader Keir Starmer as he began to deliver a keynote speech at his Labour party's annual conference.
Starmer had just arrived on the event's main stage in Liverpool, northwest England, to make his much-anticipated address when he was interrupted by the male protester who stormed the platform.
A new civil disobedience group, People Demand Democracy, which is demanding improvements to the UK political system claimed it staged the stunt. It named the activist involved as Yaz Ashmawi.
He shouted true democracy is citizen-led and politics needs an update as well as other slogans, before scattering glitter over Starmer's head and shoulders.
Several security officials then surrounded the heckler and removed him.
Merseyside Police said in a statement that a 28-year-old man from Surrey, in southeast England, had been arrested.
The man was detained by security at the event and handed over to the police who arrested him on suspicion of... assault, breach of the peace and causing public nuisance, the local police force added.
He has been taken to a police station where he will be questioned by police.
Ashmawi is reportedly an activist for the environmental direct action group Extinction Rebellion (XR), but it disclaimed organising the stunt.
- 'Protest or power?' -
Starmer appeared largely unfazed, removing his glitter-strewn jacket to deliver his speech after making several quips about the incident.
If he thinks that bothers me he doesn't know me, Starmer told the cheering audience.
Protest or power? That is why we changed our party, conference, he added.
Starmer has revived Labour's standing since replacing leftist Jeremy Corbyn as its leader in 2020, overhauling the party after it suffered its worst election performance in decades in December, 2019.
Corbyn had been a Labour lawmaker for decades but never held a government post during its 13-year period in power from 1997.
The new activist group People Demand Democracy are calling for proportional voting systems to be introduced for general elections in Britain.
The country currently uses the first-past-the-post system, which often sees lawmakers elected with less than 50 percent of the votes cast in a constituency.
Governments are then formed by the party with a majority of MPs, even though it may have only been backed by less than 40 percent of the electorate.
People Demand Democracy are also demanding a permanent, legally-binding national House of Citizens, selected by a lottery, to play a part in the political process.
We need a democratic alternative that gives the people of the UK a voice to deal with the major challenges of our time: rampant inequality, an escalating climate crisis, political corruption and on, the group said in a press release.
But what do we have instead? A Labour Party offering very little in terms of real change.