June 24 (UPI) — Ten of thousands of people opposed to Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union marched in London on Saturday, two years after the referendum in favor of Brexit.
Organizers of the rally, called People’s Vote, estimated the attendance at 100,000, according The Guardian.
The march culminated in a rally at Parliament Square with speeches from politicians.
Caroline Lucas, a parliament member and co-leader of the Green Party, said she doesn’t back the government’s “vision of a mean-minded little Britain.”
“I believe that Brexit will be a disaster for this country,” she said to a cheering crowd in a video posted on Facebook. “I want to say that given the overwhelming evidence that it would make all of us poorer in so many ways, it is our patriotic duty to do everything we can to secure a people’s vote.”
The group wants citizens to vote on a final deal.
The government plans to give parliament a vote on the final deal later this year. The departure date has been set for March 29, 2019.
In 2016, 52 percent voted in favor of leaving the European Union. As the change has become political, the government has struggled to agree on a departure.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said the departure is “not a done deal.”
Dodo Pearce, a 69-year-old woman told the BBC she traveled from Derbyshire to protest for the first time in her life.
Brexit supporters marched elsewhere in the city, but their march drew a much smaller crowd. The BBC estimated the crowd was in the hundreds.
The pro-Bexit supporters started 2 miles away at Victoria station, but both sides ended a few hundred yards away at the Palace of Westminster.
Police were prepared on foot, in riot vans and in helicopters.
“The vast, vast majority of people, whether they are Leavers or Remainers, just want us to get on and come out of this dreadful European Union super-state,” Conservative minister Pete Bone said. “There were 17.4 million people that voted for leave and if there are a few thousand in London complaining about it — that doesn’t seem to really make much difference.”
