100,000 join anti-Brexit march
An estimated 100,000 people including Britons from France marched against Brexit in the London sunshine yesterday.
Members of the Remain in France Together (RIFT) group met up with other groups from the British in Europe coalition outside Buckingham Palace before joining the other marchers at Park Lane.-
A planned 11.00 start was delayed by around an hour - perhaps due to the unexpectedly large numbers - before the marchers headed down through Piccadilly, St James Street and Pall Mall, through Trafalgar Square and along Whitehall to Parliament Square. The march was marked by a good-humoured atmosphere and a sea of blue EU flags.
The square, which adjoins the Houses of Parliament, was packed out as marchers listened to speakers including Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and former leader Nick Clegg, former Downing Street press secretary Alistair Campbell, Labour MP David Lammy, London MEP Mary Honeyball and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.
Also among those speaking were students representing the views of young Britons, and Sue Wilson of Remain in Spain who spoke on behalf of expats stressing the worry caused by uncertainty of matters like residence rights, British old age pension uprating and healthcare for pensioners.
With just days left before Theresa May is expected to trigger article 50, speakers told the crowd they believed they spoke for the majority of Britons in opposing a ' hard Brexit' taking the UK out of the single market, and said they hoped the march marked the start of a renewed pro-Europe movement in the UK.
The march also coincided with the 60th anniversary of foundational EU document the Treaty of Rome.
