People's Vote March - Oct 19th

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I thought we might appreciate a separate thread for organising meet ups and info :)

I am short of time at the moment, so support in gathering info and linking people together is very much appreciated.

It looks like Parliament (according to a Laura K tweet) will be having a special meeting on that day, even though it's a Saturday, so all the more reason to come along and let them know that we reject the situation and that we especially reject a No Deal Brexit.

look at the brexiters up in arms about people shouting 'shame on you' to jrm

its fine to:

call politicians, judges, civil servants, journalists, 'traitors.'

make rape and death threats at high profile remainers and intimidate them in the streets (without a police presence)

demand no one ever mentions Jo Cox - murdered because she was a traitor by a brexiteer- if you do its not fair, she wanted brexit (wtf)

run hate campaigns - org like brexiteer racists britain first- send 1000s of abusive emails (inc rape and death threats) to 'traitor'

OhYouBadBadKitten so sorry to hear that.

i know someone having an absolutely terrible time at the moment- shes not a public figure at all- and its absolutely frightening what the brexiteers are doing.

Diane Abbott was also harassed.

Harassment isn't OK whoever it is.

I'm not sure where you draw the line tbh - I think non-violent verbal protest (booing, "shame") is OK when politicians are spotted in public by protesters and this is true whether or not they have their kids with them.

But protesters have to keep their distance and avoid aggression and hate-speech. Goes for both sides of course.

If any of the Shadow Cabinet had lolled on their Front Bench in the same way that Rees-Mogg did, I would think it equally contemptuous behaviour.

Having an expensive private education does not excuse bad manners. Even at my mediocre girls grammar, if the headmistress had heard of us displaying such discourteous behaviour we would have had an almighty telling off, and probably lost some sort of privilege as a result.

how dare people do anything but doff their hats at the old etonian brexiteers.

I expect it's the same for many people who speak out or are seen with EU flags Helmet but thank you. None of us get a police escort of course, we just have to put up with the abuse.

But back to the march :) I'm reading about it in the online papers. It's heartening to think among the aerial shots were so many of you down there. We didn't give up, we didn't lose heart. Well done!!!!!

I hope everyone is doing ok today, if you can, try and have a gentle day.
I'm pretty hoarse from the singing and chanting

It was so busy it was almost impossible to keep everyone in our group together. We spent ages trying to get down Whitehall then gave up and headed for a coffee at Charing Cross.
I looked out for you @borntobequiet but couldn’t see you. Beamed at someone who looked a little bit like you though!
It definitely felt more sombre than in March. We weren’t close enough to any screens or Parliament Square to get the Letwin result, but I passed on the result to a few people around me. I was worried that the fact I could get a signal a lot of the time meant numbers were down. We saw Keir Starmer whilst waiting for our coach and although he had an entourage, he didn’t have a police escort. There were so many more police around than on previous marches, I suppose because Parliament was actually sitting. Was quite scary to see so many men walking around with massive guns - like you see at Heathrow.

It's so odd how location and timing affects perspective. The only police I saw were at the beginning when they hadn't closed the roads near the start of the march and there were too many of us to fit in to the pavement, then at the end on the mall around the cabinet offices which we could only get to after the crowds thinned out.

Hi @TheNumberfaker I looked out for you and your group too - actually the first march where I didn’t spot that particular banner! But it was busy busy busy. YY to the increased police presence esp at Tube entrances, though I didn’t see many at all while marching. I was pleased it was the usual mix of demographic, political allegiances, ages and abilities. Truly The People getting their voices heard, and very loudly and passionately the nearer Whitehall they approached. I felt (and still feel) pretty emotional about it.

A few of my favourite placards from yesterday:

Some more

At one point my friends and I ended up behind a RemainerNow group. I could have hugged them

This lady was patiently standing while one person after another took a photo of her sign 😄

A couple of my favourites.

I was in Parliament Square when the vote for the Letwin amendment was announced and broadcast live to the whole square. I'll never forget the roar of approval - I hope it was loud enough for those in the HoC to hear (I assume it must have been - apparently at one point David Lammy tweeted that the marchers could be heard inside the House).

It was an amazing, emotional moment. I don't mind admitting that I was pretty tearful. At that point I was standing next to a woman from Cornwall who had got up at 3.50am to get to London. I felt bad I'd only come from Zone 6

I still feel very pessimistic about it all, but it helps to have done something, and to have been surrounded by so many like-minded people, and to be able to show our support for those inside and outside of Parliament working on our behalf, felt really good.

I saw the people with the Gove Twat sign later in Pret.
Apparently, yes, they could hear from within the Commons.

So if Leavers want to make sure that they get their Leave - you have your answer, put a couple of million on the streets.

I saw that adapted Dylan Thomas banner too, Lightsabre...very emotive. I'm still struggling to post any pics from yesterday, and not entirely sure what I am doing wrong. Are you all exhausted today too? My bones are what I would call crunchy. But my heart is content that we went.

I'm pretty exhausted. I promised dh I'd go with him on a bike ride today. I'm not so sure now.

I was knackered when I got home yesterday - basically took to the sofa for the rest of the day! I'm fine now, but then I didn't have far to travel.

Came from Manchester and got back at 9pm absolutely shattered.
Am so glad I went. Heartened to see so many people who think the same as me. It was worth going just for the roar when the Letwin amendment passed. Who knows what happens next but at least I can say to my kids when older I went and made my feelings known.
(If you haven't yet, everyone should also write to their MP- many MPs have said they have been influenced by emails from their constituents. Mine is useless but at least does acknowledge my messages!)

I’m in this footage (but I’m not going to say exactly where). I did wonder if the Scottish cat lady is a Westminstender!
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/19/peoples-vote-march-hailed-as-one-of-greatest-protest-marches-in-british-history?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I came from South Wales and although it was a long day, I'm so glad I went.

The March one felt bigger to me but I was outside the Dorchester for 3 hours last time wondering why it was held up (not realising it was so big that the front had already reached Parliament square). This time we managed to join the Wales rally before the March and so joined the March a lot further forward.

We made it to Whitehall and got to the screens just as the Letwin amendment result came in. The atmosphere seemed to change from quite jovial to euphoric at that point, despite the rain!

We caught the coach home at Ealing Broadway and went for a quiet drink before the coach arrived, it was there that our group was targeted by some Brexiters. We were not there to debate- we'd had a long day and just wanted a chit chat amongst ourselves but these people persisted and the situation became quite scary. They were clearly inebriated and we ended up having to leave as it did not feel very safe.

I think it bothered me more that we hadn't gone into the pub waving banners or chanting, most of us were in groups of 2 or 3 and we all just ordered drinks and went outside to drink them. The Brexiters actively followed us outside and it was quite intimidating.

All in all it was a great day but I didn't feel the sense of buoyancy afterwards that I felt at the last one. I can't really explain it.

We were still a long way from the screens when we heard the Letwin result. My son and people round us were constantly refreshing their phones, though it was very slow so we shouted it out and others shouted it down the line. Lots of happy people. We got about 1/3 of the way down Whitehall before we came to a halt. A lot of people peeled off then, especially those with kids when it rained, so we managed to squeeze through past Downing Steet before the need for a loo got the better of us.

monst well done travelling all that way, I know what you mean about it feeling different, I felt really sad this time and went home a lot earlier.