Anti-brexit marchers seek new referendum
LONDON – Anti-brexit protesters flooded into central London by the hundreds of thousands on Saturday, demanding that Britain’s Conservative-led government hold a new referendum on whether Britain should leave the European Union.
The “People’s Vote March” snaked from Park Lane and other locations to converge on the U.K. Parliament, where the fate of Brexit will be decided in the coming weeks.
Marchers carried European Union flags and signs praising the longstanding ties between Britain and continental Europe.
The protest drew people from across Britain who are determined to force Prime Minister Theresa May’s government to alter its march toward Brexit.
Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable, invited to help lead the march, called the crowd impressive and unified.
“There is a huge turnout of people here from all walks of life, of all ages and from all over the country,” he tweeted.
“We are a Remain country now with 60 percent wanting to stop the Brexit mess.”
More than 4 million people endorsed an electronic petition this week in favor of revoking Article 50, the act that triggered the Brexit process.
The march came as May, who opposes a second referendum on Britain’s EU membership, is easing away from plans to hold a third vote on her troubled Brexit withdrawal plan, which has been rejected twice by Parliament.
In a letter to lawmakers on Friday night, May said she might not seek passage of her Brexit withdrawal plan in Parliament next week. The embattled leader said she would only bring her EU divorce plan back to Parliament if there seems to be enough backing for it to pass.
“If it appears that there is not sufficient support to bring the deal back next week, or the House rejects it again, we can ask for another extension before (April 12), but that will involve holding European Parliament elections,” she said.
May’s changing stance reflects the plan’s dismal chances in the House of Commons after two defeats.