‘700,000’ MARCH FOR A 2ND VOTE
UP TO 700,000 anti-B rex it campaigners yesterday marched through London to call for a second EU referendum.
The People’s Vote march set off from London’s Park Lane and snaked its way across the city before ending with a rally at Parliament Square where celebrities addressed the crowd.
Organisers last night estimated that between 670,000 and 700,000 people took part, which would make it the largest march in Britain since a demonstration against the Iraq war in 2003.
The People’s Vote campaign, made up of several pro-EU groups, said stewards stationed at regular intervals estimated the size of the crowd. Police do not provide an independent estimate of numbers at such events.
TV cook Delia Smith, wearing the scarf of her beloved Norwich City FC, reprised her infamous ‘Let’s be ’avin’ you’ call once made to the club’s fans. This time it was aimed at MPs, urging them to allow a second vote on Brexit.
‘I’m so afraid of what’s happening to our country and the people mak- ing very brave decisions on our behalf,’ she said.
‘When the vote happened we were not fully informed. Now we know the dire consequences, and that can be summed up in just two words: unmitigated chaos. What are we doing? We’re building lorry parks and stockpiling drugs. My message to MPs is: Please sort it out.’
Sir Bob Geldof joined the throng, carrying a placard reading ‘ EUROPE INNIT’. Broadcaster Mariella Frostrup compered the rally, with huge screens streaming the speeches to crowds backed up along Whitehall.
Lord Of The Rings actor Andy Serkis described the protest as ‘one of the most, if not THE most important marches of our generation’, adding: ‘The will of the people is now, it’ s people expressing their points of view in a more informed state.’
TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall tweeted: ‘Theresa May is cooking up a Brexit disaster. I’m with Delia.’ Holby City actors Catherine Russell and Hugh Quarshie put a video of themselves at the beginning of the march on social media.
Quarshie wrote: ‘If Brexit happens it might be your fault but it won’t be ours’, and Miss Russell challenged Labour leader Jeremy
‘My message to MPs is: Please sort it out’
Corbyn to explain where he was. TV presenter Richard Bacon made a joke of his recent return to the Blue Peter fold by tweeting a picture of himself sporting a ‘B******s to Brexit’ sticker, adding: ‘Another day, another badge’.
Bacon was given a Blue Peter badge three days ago – a symbol that he had been forgiven by the children’s TV show 20 years after being sacked as its presenter when he admitted taking cocaine.
Deborah Meaden, the entrepreneur who appears on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den, took to the streets and posted a photograph of herself with Labour MP Chuka Umunna.
She told the crowds: ‘I’ve worked in business all my life. If there’s one thing business doesn’t like, it’s uncertainty. Two years ago we had no idea what chaos Brexit was going to bring and today we know even less.’
Other celebrities at the protest i ncluded Thick Of I t creator Armando Iannucci and actor Chris Addison, who starred in the hit political satire. Actor and writer David Schneider tweeted a picture of himself posing alongside the pair, adding the tongue-in-cheek message: ‘It’s all right, Britain! The metropolitan elite have arrived.’
Earlier, the huge crowds cheered as they were played supportive messages on the big screen from celebrities including Match Of The Day presenter Gary Lineker, actor Dominic West,
comedian Tracey Ullman and actor Steve Coogan.
One marcher, Jason Gillot, said he originally voted to leave the EU, but changed his mind five days after the referendum.
The 43-year-old, from London, said: ‘I’m politically agnostic but I was just sick of the lies that have come out of both sides.’