Hundreds of thousands of people opposed to Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union marched through central London on Saturday to demand a new referendum as the deepening Brexit crisis risked sinking Prime Minister Theresa May’s premiership.

After three years of tortuous debate, it is still uncertain how, when or even if Brexit will happen as May tries to plot a way out of the gravest political crisis in at least a generation.

Marchers set off in central London with banners proclaiming “the best deal is no Brexit” and “we demand a People’s Vote” in what organisers said was more than one million people strong and the biggest anti-Brexit protest yet.

Pro-EU protesters gathered at Marble Arch on the edge of Hyde Park around midday, before marching through the landmarks Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square and past the prime minister’s office in Downing Street to finish outside parliament.

The one million estimate would make it London’s second biggest demonstration after a rally against the Iraq War in February 2003, which organisers said close to 2 million people attended.

A range of politicians, including from the governing Conservative Party, addressed a crowd, which packed out Parliament Square and left some unable to get near.

Among them was Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson, who swung behind a People’s Vote on May’s deal, and Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon.

A petition to cancel Brexit altogether gained 4.39 million signatures in just three days after May told the public “I am on your side” over Brexit and urged lawmakers to get behind her deal.

The woman who started the record-breaking anti-Brexit petition, Margaret Georgiadou, 77, who is married to a UK Cypriot, said she was “totally amazed” it had become the most popular petition submitted to the Parliament website but says she is “shaking like a leaf” after receiving three death threats by phone.

The retired lecturer said she has also received abuse via her Facebook account.

Mrs Georgiadou said she wanted to get as many people as possible to sign it – but she wasn’t hoping for a government response.

“Democracy is ruled by society for society, not the majority for the majority. I want it to prove it is no longer the will of the people. It was three years ago but the government has become infamous for changing their mind – so why can’t the people?

In the June 23, 2016 referendum, 17.4 million voters, or 52 percent, backed Brexit while 16.1 million, or 48 percent, backed staying in the bloc.

But ever since, opponents of Brexit have been exploring ways to hold another referendum. Some opinion polls have shown a slight shift in favour of remaining in the European Union, but there has yet to be sustained evidence of a decisive change in attitudes.

May has repeatedly ruled out holding another Brexit referendum, saying it would deepen divisions and undermine support for democracy. Brexit supporters say a second referendum would trigger a major constitutional crisis.

Those favouring Britain remaining in the EU say Brexit will bring economic hardship and disrupt trade, as well as an end to many social benefits, including the right to live and work in 27 other countries.

Supporters of Brexit say the divorce might bring some short-term instability, but in the longer term Britain will thrive if cut free from what they cast as a doomed experiment in German-dominated unity that is falling far behind other major powers.

“We already put it to the people. And the people roared,” pro-leave group Change Britain said in a tweet.

 

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