The massive anti-Brexit protest march in the UK, in 19 photos

The massive anti-Brexit protest march in the UK, in 19 photos

Over a million protesters took to the streets of London Saturday to demand a second Brexit referendum.

On Saturday, more than a million people took to the streets of London to demand a second Brexit referendum — what they’re calling a “people’s vote.”

In June 2016, the United Kingdom voted 52 to 48 percent to leave the European Union. That incredibly close vote kicked off nearly two years of political and economic chaos in Britain that continue to this day, as the country tries to figure out how to break away from the EU without tanking its entire economy.

British Prime Minister Theresa May spent months negotiating a detailed Brexit deal with the EU, only to see it rejected not once, but twice by the UK Parliament. As Vox’s Jen Kirby explains, the country is “bitterly divided,” but “there’s one thing almost everyone in Britain agrees on: Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal is really bad.”

The inability to get a deal passed has brought the country to the brink of disaster: the possibility of a no-deal Brexit. In that scenario, the UK crashes out of the EU with no rules in place for how everything from trade to airline travel to immigration between the UK and EU countries will work. It would be an unprecedented economic catastrophe — and Brits are not amused by their leaders’ failure to come up with a solution to avert it.

That’s why hundreds of thousands of people, most of whom support staying in the EU, are now calling for a second Brexit referendum. People’s Vote UK, the grassroots group leading the charge, told Vox’s Kirby back in December that it wants to give UK voters a chance to choose between May’s deal or remaining in the EU.

The idea has been building for a while now, and only recently gained support from the opposition Labour Party. So the People’s Vote UK decided to call on British citizens to take to the streets for a mass demonstration Saturday to show the country’s leaders just how much support there really is for a second referendum.

And the people answered. Here are some of the most eye-opening — and cheeky — photos from Saturday’s people’s vote march in London.

Brits are fed up — and much of the anger is directed at Prime Minister Theresa May and her Cabinet

An effigy of British Prime Minister Theresa May passes by Downing Street during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Photo
An effigy of British Prime Minister Theresa May passes by Downing Street during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.
Demonstrators defaced the doors of the UK’s Cabinet Office with anti-Brexit stickers during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images
Demonstrators defaced the doors of the UK’s Cabinet Office with anti-Brexit stickers during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.
A demonstrator holds a placard that reads “Fuck Brexit” during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images
A demonstrator holds a placard during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.
Demonstrators at the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.Isabel Infantes/PA Images via Getty Images
Demonstrators at the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.
Protesters sit next to a stroller with a sign reading “Theresa May is not on our side” at the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.Tayfun Salci/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Protesters sit next to a stroller with a sign reading “Theresa May is not on our side” at the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.

But people haven’t lost their senses of humor

A protester holds a sign during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.Guy Smallman/Getty Images
A protester holds a sign during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.
Protesters pass a mock emergency box containing tea bags that reads “In Case of Hard Brexit Break Glass” during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.Guy Smallman/Getty Images
Protesters pass a mock emergency box containing tea bags that reads “In Case of Hard Brexit Break Glass” during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.
A protester holds a placard saying “IKEA has better cabinets” at the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.John Keeble/Getty Images
A protester holds a placard at the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.
A demonstrator wears a sticker on her forehead that reads “Bollocks to Brexit” during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Photo
A demonstrator wears a sticker on her forehead during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.
A demonstrator holds a placard that reads “What a Clusterfuck” during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London, UK, on Saturday, March 23, 2019.Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images
A demonstrator holds a placard during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.

There’s also plenty of love for the European Union

A protester with “I [heart] EU” painted on her face takes part in the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.John Keeble/Getty Images
A protester with “I [heart] EU” painted on her face takes part in the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.
A young girl waves an EU flag during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.John Keeble/Getty Images
A young girl waves an EU flag during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.
People with their faces painted in EU flag colors participate in the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.Niklas Halle’n/AFP/Getty Images
People with their faces painted in EU flag colors participate in the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.

And plenty of ire for former UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, one of the main champions of Brexit

A demonstrator holds a placard that reads “Less Farage, More Fromage” during a People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.Tim Ireland/AP Photo
A demonstrator holds a placard during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.
A demonstrator holds a sign featuring the face of Nigel Farage (center) and others during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images
A demonstrator holds a sign featuring the face of Nigel Farage (center) and others during the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.

Farage actually held his own pro-Brexit rally Saturday — in the parking lot of a local pub. 200 people showed up.

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage addresses March to Leave protesters in Nottingham on March 23, 2019.Joe Giddens/PA Images via Getty Images
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage addresses March to Leave protesters in Nottingham on March 23, 2019.
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage arrives at the Last Post pub during the March to Leave protest in Nottingham on March 23, 2019.Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage arrives at the Last Post pub during the March to Leave protest in Nottingham on March 23, 2019.

Sorry, Nigel

A demonstrator holds a sign that reads “Our March is Bigger than Yours Nigel” at the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images
A demonstrator holds a sign at the People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London on March 23, 2019.

Author: Jennifer Williams

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