One could feel sorry for the residents of central London for the endless demonstrations that interrupt their life every weekend save that, judging by the number of sightseeing buses, there seem only to be tourists in central London. And I am sure that they were delighted to see the colourful and noisy crowd of Rejoiners out in the sunshine on Saturday, 28 September for the third annual Rejoin March.
With an unexpected general election being called in the summer there was little time to organise the 2024 March to Rejoin the EU, yet organised it was. The official police count said there were 15,000 demonstrators involved. As the Met police are notorious for underestimating numbers it is certain there were many more and, when we turned from Piccadilly down St James’s Street, the sea of blue and yellow stretched all the way back to Hyde Park Corner.
Cornwall for Europe invited Devon for Europe to team up to provide a coach. For Cornwall’s stalwarts this meant leaving the Duchy at 4 am. Devon for Europe lightweights didn’t have to join the coach in Exeter till 7 am. Nearly daylight! We met up with many other demonstrators at the statue of Achilles in Hyde Park where someone was playing Ode to Joy on the pipes and a European news crew was interviewing Sue Wilson from Bremain in Spain. The march itself started on the opposite side of Park Lane led by the incorrigible Steve Bray (Mr Stop Brexit!].
As ever, this was exactly as the organisers had promoted it; a legal, peaceful, fun and family-friendly march. There were a group of elephants (– in the room?), empty placards listing Brexit benefits, Madeleina Kay in full blue and yellow feathered dress and marchers young, old and in-between. We paused outside Downing Street to let Keir Starmer know our feelings and then the crowd reached Parliament Square. Peter Corr, the valiant organiser of the Rejoin March, had produced a great range of speakers including Terry Reintke, leader of the Green Party in the EU Parliament, the one and only Steve Bray and Femi Olowole, who pointed out that since Brexit and the Tory government’s ‘hostile environment’ he and others of colour are aware of an increased level of racist intimidation.
It is hard to understand why, with 72 per cent of those responding to a YouGov Poll thinking Brexit is NOT a success, Keir Starmer does not seem to want to be a ReJoiner.
My dog, who has a French passport, now has more rights than I do.
Editor’s note: the evidence keeps building that Brexit has been a disaster on multiple fronts. With the black hole in government finances, it beggars belief that serious consideration is not being given to re-joining. Terry Reintke spoke for many EU moderates and pragmatists when she said that we would be welcomed back with open arms. Why do we have to suffer the consequences of a decision based on lies and fantasy? Come on, Sir Keir! Get us back in!
