Brexit backers block Westminster roads chanting: 'Bye-bye EU'

Thousands of protesters calling for Brexit rallied outside parliament on Friday after MPs inside voted down Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement on the day the UK was originally scheduled to leave the EU.

Leave Means Leave supporters walked past parliament as Nigel Farage’s March to Leave procession, which started in Sunderland two weeks ago, arrived in Westminster.

By early evening most protesters had left but some remaining demonstrators – supporters of the English Defence League founder turned Ukip adviser Tommy Robinson – clashed with police. Fans of the controversial figure, some wearing yellow vests or masks, engaged in a tug of war with officers over metal railings while shouting and swearing at police. It was later reported that most had gone to Whitehall pubs, with some stopping traffic in Trafalgar Square chanting “Oh Tommy Robinson”. Police said there were five arrests.

Earlier, traffic also came to a standstill around Parliament Square as Brexit supporters blocked the road while chanting “We shall not be moved”, “Brexit now” and “Bye-bye, EU.”

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, played his hour-long film attacking the BBC from a large stage on Parliament Street on Friday afternoon as he addressed protesters gathered outside the Palace of Westminster.

Later he addressed cheering fans, saying: “So Theresa May has lost her vote. Many people will be asking what does that even mean. It means we were betrayed. Today is supposed to be our independence day.”

As he went on, his voice appeared to be fade and he sounded strained and croaky. One onlooker said: “Have a drink, mate.”

Farage told the crowds in Parliament Square: “Frankly, I believe that what’s happened over there [in parliament] has not just turned this day that should’ve been one of great celebration into a day that history will mark as a day of great betrayal – I believe that what’s happened over the course of two years is actually one of the saddest and worst chapters in the history of our nation.”

He said if there were a second referendum, “We will beat them by a bigger majority.” He added: “We will get our country back. We will get our pride and our self-respect back.” He also said he would stand in the European elections in May if the UK had not left the EU by then.

Those attending ranged from far-right activists through to Trump-voting Americans and French supporters of “Frexit”.

“Brexit is a huge inspiration to us and we want France to follow,” said Rabia Ouchikhe, a French citizen from Réunion Island, who had gathered with others from France’s Eurosceptic UPR movement. She said that 800 people had travelled from France.

Chris Danbury from Bexley in south London said: “I wasn’t part of the English Defence League when Tommy was involved in that, but I really respect what he has done.”

Asked what he and others would do if Brexit happened on softer terms or even on those of May’s deal, he said: “We’ll just have to take them out at the general election.”

Many carried home-made placards and wore outfits ranging from yellow vests to military fatigues and polo shirts showing their membership of various groups that have come together under the banner of the Democratic Football Lads Alliance.

Barbara Parish from Nottingham was wearing a crown and the sash of the suffragettes and held a placard tracing UK democracy from the Magna Carta to universal suffrage and beyond. “Don’t let the EU and parliament destroy it” was her message.

Shortly before 4.30pm, the crowd cheered as a number of loyalist marching bands made their way into the square, their drums emblazoned with the slogan “true blue defenders”.

A group of four men milling around on Parliament Street in the afternoon said they had attended the protests because they believed in freedom. Although initially confrontational at being approached by a reporter, they were happy to talk about politics.

“David Cameron said it was a vote once in a lifetime,” said one. “Was he talking about a hamster’s lifetime or a human lifetime?”

Three of the men, who said they had Greek ancestry, said the EU’s treatment of the leftwing government in Greece was a major reason for their opposition to the UK’s continuing membership.

“We are here for freedom, democracy and peace,” said another. “We’re not fascists, we’re not racists, we’re not even English – our parents are immigrants from abroad. But we love this country more than some English people do.”

The men said they had supported Labour until the party’s recent antisemitism crisis. A fourth man in the group, who identified himself as a former Tory turned Ukip member, added: “All leavers want more immigration from the common market – it’s the EU that’s racist by only including Europeans.”

Irene Foster was carrying a banner saying “No to EU”. She, her husband and her friend had all travelled from east Devon to join the demonstration.

“I’m old enough to remember what happened when we joined the EU,” Foster said. “Factories were bribed to take the stuff over to EU countries. Our workers were sent over there to show them to use the stuff and when they came back they had no jobs.”

Her husband, Paul, said he hoped the UK would leave the EU soon. “This is what we were promised, that leave means leave, and they are all going back on their word now,” he said.

Police horses had to be brought in to defend a hundred or so counter-protesters from Stand Up to Racism gathered at the Embankment end of Richmond Terrace, when several dozen pro-Brexit demonstrators, some wearing masks, approached them, shouting “Jew-hating scum” and “leftwing scum”.

At one point, a man tried to knock a camera out of a Guardian reporter’s hand as he tried to film the confrontation. Police ushered the counter-protesters down Richmond Terrace in an attempt to halt the confrontation. They then gathered on Whitehall by the Women of World War II memorial for a small rally.

Before that, counter-protesters had stayed quiet as hundreds of pro-Brexit demonstrators filed past.

At one point Vinnie O’Sullivan, an online rightwing figure who publishes on Facebook, stopped to shout abuse at Steve Hedleyof the RMT union, and a group of police officers moved in to intervene.

Addressing the counter-demo, with the rear of the large Ukip/Tommy Robinson stage in the background, Hedley said those who were behind the Brexit day rally were of the far-right.

“Wherever the far-right have come to power, it’s not just been against minorities, it’s been against the organised working class. And the organs of the organised working-class are the trade union movement. And that’s why every time they come to power, they attack us, ban us, imprison us and assassinate our leaders.

“And that’s why we’re here today, to stand in solidarity with everyone who is an oppressed minority, but out of self-interest as well: because working people cannot let bastards like that pretend to represent us and come to power on our backs.”

Asked why he had joined the counter-demo, one protester, who gave his name as Daniel, from Coventry, said: “Because we think either way you voted – I voted to leave – obviously Tommy Robinson and Ukip are racist and they are just trying to build off a feeling of disenfranchisement that people have. So wherever racists turn up, I will be there to oppose them.”

Weyman Bennett, coordinator of Stand Up to Racism, said those who had attacked them were from the Democratic Football Lads Alliance, including members of the football hooligan firm the Chelsea Headhunters. “They are trying to camouflage themselves in the Brexit movement,” Bennett said.