Glum Remainers gather to mourn UK’s exit
WHILE much of Britain was celebrating wildly, Remain diehards took to the streets to mourn the UK’s exit from the European Union – their candles and tears giving the vigils a funereal air.
In Oxford, dozens of the downhearted gathered for a pro-EU meeting on Friday evening.
Layla Moran, Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West, said: ‘It feels good to be here together. I am not going to lie, I have not been holding it together very well today.
‘I woke up this morning and shed a little tear. I walked into this room and I did again.’
She added: ‘Having worked in it for half a lifetime, I have absolutely no doubt that the European Union is the greatest peace project the world has ever seen. Unfortunately, it will be weakened tonight as the UK pulls out.’
Despite the clear result of the referendum three-and-a-half years ago, many still seemed to be in a state of disbelief.
One man who spoke at the rally said: ‘We are peace-loving people but I do not think we are resigned to what has happened.
‘I think we should say that we are not reconciled to what has happened, but that is not an aggressive, war-like statement, that is a statement that we are fighting for sanity against insanity.’ Another, dressed in a European Union apron, who introduced himself as an ‘Oxford resident, EU citizen’, said: ‘I just have one very simple thought, which is that at 11 o’clock all of us Remainers, we become Rejoiners.’
Meanwhile, in Ramsgate, Kent, Remain supporters projected a message of support to the EU on to a cliff face in the hours before the UK officially departed.
Antony Hook, a Lib Dem MEP for the last nine months, beamed a huge sign that read: ‘We still love EU.’
He said it was a ‘reminder that for a good half of the country, Brexit is happening against their wishes. I am devastated Brexit is happening today. My fear is that there are some for whom Brexit is just the beginning’.
Earlier, the protest group Led By Donkeys projected a 32,000sq ft video ‘message to Europe’ on to the White Cliffs of Dover.
The film, beamed in English, French and German, included Second World War veterans Sid Daw, 95, and Brigadier Stephen
‘For half the country, it is against their wishes’
Goodall, 97, describing their grief at leaving the EU. The video concluded with an image of a golden star against a blue background – denoting the UK’s membership of the EU – and the words: ‘This is our star, look after it for us.’
Elsewhere, protesters in Glasgow sang the EU anthem Ode To Joy in German and English at 11pm.
In Northern Ireland, anti-Brexit campaigners took part in demonstrations at six points along the Irish border.
The protests, organised by Sinn Fein and the Border Communities Against Brexit group, saw hundreds of people carrying placards that read ‘No border in Ireland’ and ‘56 per cent in the North voted remain’.