Demonstrators led by Peter Tatchell have disrupted a speech by Jeremy Corbyn in protest at Labour's response to Syria.

The veteran human rights campaigner told the party leader he needed "to step up and demand action in Syria".

As Mr Corbyn started his speech, Mr Tatchell and other protesters lined up in front of the stage and held up placards demanding immediate air drops in the war-ravaged country.

He likened the current situation in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo to the infamous bombing of a town during the Spanish Civil War, in which civilians were deliberately targeted from the air by fascist planes.

Syria demo 'last desperate measure'

Mr Tatchell said: "What is happening in Aleppo is a modern day Guernica.


"We haven't heard the leader of the Labour Party speak out enough to demand UK air drops to besieged civilians who are dying in their thousands."

The protest came as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson travelled to Paris for international talks on the crisis.

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Mr Tatchell has previously criticised Mr Corbyn for not being vocal enough against Russia, which is backing the brutal regime of Syrian leader Bashar al Assad.

He has also attacked the Stop the War coalition, previously headed by Mr Corbyn, for opposing Western military action while failing to protest against the Syrian regime.

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Mr Corbyn was on stage with a number of his frontbench team, including shadow attorney general Baroness Chakrabarti, shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry and shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, at the time of the demonstration.

Apparently forgetting they were still wearing microphones, Lady Chakrabarti advised the Labour leader "just let them do this".

Mr Corbyn then consulted Ms Thornberry, asking her: "When did we condemn the bombing?"

He later told the meeting: "Just to be absolutely clear in response to the point that Peter made, Emily Thornberry, on our behalf, during Foreign Office questions and on many other occasions, has made it absolutely clear that we do think there should be aid given to people in Aleppo, we do think the bombing should end, we do think there should be a ceasefire, we do think there should be a political solution, we do think that the war should end in Syria."

Speaking to Sky News after the demonstration, Mr Tatchell said: "Today's protest was a last desperate measure because Labour is not listening to the appeals from Syrian civil rights activists.

"They want the UK to do aid drops, humanitarian aid drops, of food and medicine to besieged civilians.

"We haven't had the Labour Party propose any specific proposals about bringing a measure, a proposal to Parliament, to make that happen.

"Of course, Labour has said it supports the principle of aid drops but it is not actually doing anything to get a vote in Parliament to make sure that they happen."