Brexit was branded a “travesty” by demonstrators who marked the 10th anniversary of the UK’s exit vote with a march calling to rejoin the bloc.
Police on the ground estimated that around 1,500 people set off from central London’s Temple station on Saturday to Parliament Square in Whitehall behind a banner which declared “We Want Our Star Back”.
The National Rejoin March (NRM) was filled with people carrying EU flags and wearing blue and yellow hats and T-shirts that said “Citizen of Europe” and “Re:Union”.
The UK voted to leave the European Union in a referendum in June 2016, called by then-prime minister David Cameron.
Newlywed Madeleine Kay, 32, is trying to move from Sheffield to be with her husband Johann in Germany.
She said: “I think Brexit was a travesty for the United Kingdom and it has also had a personal impact of me, a huge amount.
“I want to see a better future for everyone in the UK, but especially those young people who did not get a say in the referendum.
“It is really important that we make our cause visible.
“The more that we campaign, the closer we will get to the ultimate goal which is being a member of the EU again.”
She said the ramifications of Brexit are now being felt in terms of the economy, trade, small businesses, to rights and freedoms, and “even if it’s just trying to go on holiday and standing in that goddamn queue at the airport.”
The words “Brexit sucks” was drawn on a homemade banner in the shape of a lollipop while other placard read “I don’t want to take my country back, I want to take my country forward” and also “Re Join EU for trade and jobs.”
Another banner from Croydon for Europe said “The UK should be more like Crystal Palace, Champions of Europe.”
Arttu Rajantie, a Finnish theoretical physicist who lives in Reading, Berkshire, and works in London, stood holding a banner which said “Scientists for EU”.
He said Brexit had “a big effect” on scientific research and saw a loss of access to European funding.
Professor Rajantie added there has been a loss of freedom of movement that is “really hurting our recruitment and building links with new partners in Europe”.
He said: “We can’t recruit young European researchers in the same way as we could because they have got 27 countries where they can go without any barriers whereas to come to Britain, they have to get a visa.
“There is high cost and high bureaucracy.
“It is very complicated and so they just choose to go elsewhere.”
NRM organiser Clare Hall said: “I would just like to see full rejoin – I don’t feel like we have got nothing to lose.”
She said the past decade has shown that Brexit was bad, adding: “It was all based on immigration, and that has been proved to be absolute nonsense, freedom of movement has been stripped away.”
She said “life has got harder,” shopping is more expensive, there is red tape getting food into the county and feels strongly for the younger generation who are set “to pay the price of this”.
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