by James PHEBY and Dmitry ZAKS
Agence France Presse
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Union Jack-waving Brexit backers danced in the London rain on Friday as the hours wound down to Britain’s split from the European Union after years of epic drama — but for others there were only fears and tears.
After 47 years in the European fold, the country leaves the EU at 11:00pm (2300 GMT) on Friday, with a handful of the most enthusiastic supporters gathering opposite the Houses of Parliament 12 hours before the final countdown.
“It’s a great relief that we’re finally leaving the EU,” said Wayne Green, 48. “The EU is a con, it’s been a con since we started and I’m so glad that we’re leaving.”
Things got more feisty as the evening wore on and the historic moment neared, with a small group burning the gold-and-blue European Union flag and chanting: “Bye bye, EU, bye bye!”
Others were there to commiserate, wearing EU berets and holding signs reading “we’ll be back”, and “you have destroyed my future career and dreams”.
“People are really, really depressed about this and some people may do silly things — we’ve already had one attempted suicide,” said accountant Peter Benson, 57.
“Grief, sadness,” added women’s rights activist Katrina Graham, 31.
“It’s deeply, deeply appalling that this is actually happening.
– ‘Utter disaster’ –
While the two groups largely kept apart, there was a minor flashpoint when one man placed his paintings — depicting a naked Prime Minister Boris Johnson riding a donkey — at the foot of Parliament Square’s Winston Churchill statue.
“He’s very rude, very rude. A lot of people don’t know history and they don’t respect tradition, they don’t respect the culture,” said Nados Adhanom, 36, who works in a bakery.
Edinburgh, Scotland 31 January 2020. – Britain on January 31 ends almost half a century of integration with its closest neighbours and leaves the European Union, starting a new — but still uncertain — chapter in its long history. (Photo by Andy Buchanan / AFP)
The exchange reflected similar arguments that have raged across the country for more than three years, after Britain voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum, and emotions are still raw.
“I think it’s an utter disaster, it’s awful,” said Daniel Price, a sales director from Brighton, on England’s south coast.
Across the banks of the River Thames in the city hall building, London Mayor Sadiq Khan met hundreds of Europeans who worried about their future status in Britain.
“For more than a thousand years, we’ve been open to people, trade and ideas, and as long as I’m mayor, that’s not going to change,” Khan told AFP
But Bulgarian national Toni Petkova was less certain.
The pro bono legal assistant said officials data showed 96,000 Bulgarians needing to apply for settler status by the end of June — or get kicked out.
“So far, almost 140,000 have applied, which means 140 percent,” she said, worrying that authorities had no idea how many Europeans needed help getting registered in time.
“A lot of them do not use the internet, they don’t follow the news, they don’t even speak English, some of them. They live in their own bubbles and they don’t even know that they have to apply.”
– ‘Too polite’ –
But the mood was more buoyant in the industrial towns of northern England that voted heavily to leave.
“In London it is going to be decked today with Union Jacks, I am very pleased,” said 82-year-old Ada Sowerby in the northeastern coastal town of Hartlepool, where voters opted to leave by a margin of almost 70 percent.
“I’m pleased, it’s about time, this has taken far longer than it should have,” added fellow resident Eric Horsley.
While Brexiteers got ready to mark the historic moment, Remainers were already looking ahead to rejoining the EU.
“I’m certain the UK will be returning to the EU in the future, in maybe 10 years,” said Benson, the London accountant.
“France and Hong Kong have shown the way how to protest; we are being too polite.”
© Agence France-Presse