Threat of ‘mass demonstrations’ from Brexiteers turns out to be a damp squib

Police and a pro-Brexit demonstrator outside the Houses of Parliament in London on October 31st. Photograph: David Mirzoeff/PA. - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

A threat of ‘mass demonstrations’ from Brexiteers after October 31st has turned out to be a damp squib – after organisers cancelled a number of events due to a lack of support.

https://twitter.com/DarrenBurkeSYN/status/1190590587432517633

More than a hundred thousand people had shared a now deleted story from pro-Brexit website Politicalite, which claimed that Brexiteers were planning to “disrupt government through a series of acts of civil disobedience” on November 2nd.

Events had been planned for Leave-voting areas including Doncaster, Sunderland, and Boston as well as London.

In Doncaster protesters had been told to gather outside the Civic Office in Sir Nigel Gresley Square – but organisers claimed the events were pulled at the eleventh hour after local newspaper the Doncaster Free Press turned up to find nobody there.

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Jay Beecher, a former UKIP deputy chairman in Peterborough, admitted that due to a shortage of protesters and funding a number of events had to be cancelled.

He tweeted: “The events are sadly postponed for many reasons, including a lack of funding (only enough was raised for 3 coaches – 150 people).”

While some protesters did turn out in areas including Boston and London, social media reports claim the numbers were considerably smaller than expected.

It comes after one prominent Brexiteer suggested live on television there “should be riots” if Brexit is not delivered by October 31st.

Brendan O’Neill said: “There is a fine tradition in this country of radical protests – right from the levellers in the 1640s to the chartists in the 1840s to the suffragettes who did take direct action… when their voices have been ignored.”