{"id":74964,"date":"2026-06-20T16:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T16:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/74964\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T16:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T16:29:12","slug":"brexit-a-travesty-say-protesters-ten-years-on-as-they-demand-uk-rejoins-european-union-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/74964\/","title":{"rendered":"Brexit a \u2018travesty\u2019 say protesters ten years on as they demand UK rejoins European Union"},"content":{"rendered":"

Demonstrators have branded Brexit<\/a> a “travesty” as they marked the 10th anniversary<\/a> of the UK<\/a>\u2019s vote to leave the European Union<\/a> with a march through central London<\/a>, calling for the country to rejoin the bloc.<\/p>\n

An estimated 1,500 people gathered at Temple station on Saturday, proceeding to Parliament Square<\/a> in Whitehall<\/a> under a banner proclaiming “We Want Our Star Back”.<\/p>\n

The National Rejoin March (NRM<\/a>) saw participants waving EU<\/a> flags and sporting blue and yellow attire, with messages such as “Citizen of Europe” and “Re:Union” emblazoned on hats and T-shirts. The UK\u2019s decision to exit the EU followed a referendum in June 2016, initiated by then-prime minister David Cameron.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People during a National Rejoin March in London (Jeff Moore\/PA)<\/p>\n

Among those marching was Madeleine Kay, 32, a newlywed from Sheffield who is attempting to relocate to Germany to be with her husband, Johann. She voiced her profound disappointment, stating: “I think Brexit was a travesty for the United Kingdom and it has also had a personal impact of me, a huge amount.”<\/p>\n

Ms Kay emphasised her desire for a brighter future for all in the UK, particularly for young people who were unable to vote in the referendum, adding: “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.”<\/p>\n

She highlighted the far-reaching consequences of Brexit, which she believes are now evident across the economy, trade, small businesses, and even fundamental rights and freedoms. Ms Kay also pointed to the more mundane frustrations, such as “just trying to go on holiday and standing in that goddamn queue at the airport.”<\/p>\n

Arttu Rajantie, a Finnish theoretical physicist residing in Reading and working in London, joined the protest holding a “Scientists<\/a> for EU” banner.<\/p>\n

He described Brexit as having had “a big effect” on scientific research, leading to a significant loss of access to European funding. Professor Rajantie further noted the detrimental impact on freedom of movement, which he said is “really hurting our recruitment and building links with new partners in Europe”.<\/p>\n

He elaborated on the difficulties faced by the scientific community: “We can\u2019t 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.”<\/p>\n

\"It<\/p>\n

It is 10 years since the Brexit referendum (Jeff Moore\/PA)<\/p>\n

Clare Hall, an organiser for the NRM, expressed her unequivocal stance: “I would just like to see full rejoin \u2013 I don\u2019t feel like we have got nothing to lose.” She contended that the past decade has unequivocally demonstrated Brexit\u2019s negative consequences, asserting: “It was all based on immigration, and that has been proved to be absolute nonsense, freedom of movement has been stripped away.”<\/p>\n

Ms Hall concluded that “life has got harder,” with increased shopping costs and bureaucratic hurdles for food imports, expressing particular concern for the younger generation who she believes are “set to pay the price of this”.<\/p>\n

Other homemade placards at the demonstration included messages such as “Brexit sucks”, “I don\u2019t want to take my country back, I want to take my country forward”, and “Re Join EU for trade and jobs”. One banner from Croydon for Europe humorously declared: “The UK should be more like Crystal Palace, Champions of Europe.”<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, The Independent launched its new campaign, “Europe: The Way Back”, which will investigate the impact of Brexit and explore the UK’s future relationship with Europe. Sign up to our free Europe: The Way Back newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Demonstrators have branded Brexit a “travesty” as they marked the 10th anniversary of the UK\u2019s vote to leave…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[40970,234,10359,3541,25924,39,40,40968,40969,40971,20378,40972],"class_list":["post-74964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-10th-anniversary","tag-brexit","tag-brexit-referendum","tag-crystal-palace","tag-david-cameron","tag-eu","tag-european-union","tag-madeleine-kay","tag-nrm","tag-parliament-square","tag-the-uk","tag-travesty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}