#MarchforEurope: Pro-Europe movement to stage national demonstration on 3 September

Thousands will demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament and in cities across the UK at midday on Saturday 3 September, under the umbrella of ‘March for Europe’, which is calling for stronger social, economic and cultural ties between Britain and the continent.  

High-profile figures including MPs Chuka Umanna (Labour) and Caroline Lucas (Greens), comedians Eddie Izzard and Josie Long, and journalist Owen Jones are supporting protestors’ calls for the government to pause the activation of Article 50 (the formal mechanism for leaving the European Union) and to consult the public at every stage of the proposed Brexit negotiations.

Saturday’s demonstration is taking place two days before Parliament reconvenes, with the first item on the agenda being a petition, signed by more than 4 million people, calling for a second referendum.

This is the second ‘March for Europe’ to take place following June’s EU Referendum campaign, and comes two months after the 50,000-strong protest in London where crowds heard from Sir Bob Geldof, Jarvis Cocker and cross-party politicians including Tim Farron (LibDem), David Lammy and Catherine West (Labour).  As part of the London march, the crowds will be addressed by a diverse range of artists and commentators.  Parallel demonstrations are taking place in Wales, Scotland, Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol and Birmingham.

Organizers Fabien Riggall and Mark Thomas commented:  “March for Europe began as a movement of over 50,000 people coming together on 2 July to demonstrate a positive vision for Britain in Europe. We wanted to see a powerful, confident and unified cultural movement harnessing thousands of passionate, creative and optimistic minds to voice a positive message - Britain must continue to be at the heart of Europe, economically socially, culturally.

“3 September will see thousands taking to the streets once more in each part of the UK. The months since the referendum result have seen a marked increase in community tension and economic uncertainty – millions of EU nationals are worried about their citizenship status and incidents of hate crime have shocked the country. As Parliament returns after a summer of political chaos, we want to say to MPs that our movement is still here, we are not going anywhere.

"Proposed Brexit negotiations cannot take place behind closed doors – the public’s voices must be heard. Join us on Saturday and let’s show that Britain and Europe are stronger united.”

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