We are wrapping up our live coverage of the Unite for Europe march today - thanks for reading.
Nick Clegg: ‘Perpetual sense of anger’
Nick Clegg wraps up the rally with a blistering speech that almost persuades Alistair Campbell to forget the coalition.
“Thank you for standing for the principles of openness, tolerance and pluralism ... and a European Union that of course is not perfect but has done so much for protecting us from tyranny,” he tells the crowd.
“Like many of you I was profoundly saddened by the outcome of the referendum but that sadness has given way to a perpetual sense of anger about the choices that Theresa May and her government have taken since.”
“It was a choice to pull us out of the customs union, it was a choice to embark on that demeaning bout of transatlantic obsequiousness,” Clegg explains, as he accuses the prime minister of “threatening to turn our country into a bargain basement cowboy economy”.
And that’s it for the day. Campbell receives a polite round of applause as he sends the crowd home with the exhortation: “keep fighting to keep Britain in Europe”.
There have also been anti-Brexit protests in Madrid today, as Guardian contributing editor Giles Tremlett tweets:
Brits gathering in Madrid, Spain protest to keep ALL RIGHTS postBrexit @RobertsDan @cajuk pic.twitter.com/WDxrDDFK0l
— Giles Tremlett (@gilestremlett) March 25, 2017
Lammy: 'We're living in a dictatorship'
Tottenham MP David Lammy tells the Guardian there is a way back into the EU for Britain. “In the end this is about the people. We’re hearing a lot of stuff about the will of the people and it’s complete spin,” he says.
“There are a lot of people against Brexit in this country, and people are changing their mind. We’re even seeing Labour wobbling and wondering why we’re here. We’re here because of a lot of anti-immigration rhetoric.
“We’re living in a dictatorship. In democracies people are always allowed to change their minds. Over the coming months and years we will fight. Nigel Farage wouldn’t give up. Labour needs to rediscover its mojo, and quickly,” Lammy adds.
Updated
Writer and commentator Bonnie Greer tweets:
Thanked every cop I saw : #UniteForEurope
— Bonnie Greer (@Bonn1eGreer) March 25, 2017
On the job-the @metpoliceuk #TheMet#MarchForEurope2017 pic-@Otto_Englishpic.twitter.com/SBaDoQsIyC
Edward Farquharson, 54, says he attended the march to make his voice heard.
“I don’t believe in Brexit. I think the views of those who wanted to remain should also be heard. It’s a tragedy.
“I’m worried about the economy - it’s going to be a disaster. I suspect we’ll end up where we are today, having spent a lot of money and effort. We’re going to have to sign lots and lots of little agreements, and spend huge amounts of money.”
Sid Mohandas, 33, teacher and researcher, attended the march with his husband Jayson Gillham, 30.
Mohandas was born in India and previously lived in the US and Sweden before Britain. “I’m against Brexit and its divisive values. I want a second referendum, to make my voice heard and support people who are a minority,” he says.
“I am representing a minority. I am an immigrant. I feel I’ve experienced racism and homophobia and I feel the values that are behind Brexit are representative of those.
“I’m worried about society, that people’s voices will get crowded out, and diversity. White nationalism is disturbing. Me and my husband got married last year. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Things that we thought wouldn’t happen have.”
Edinburgh protest
Good turnout at #MarchForEurope in #Edinburgh 🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/iK5QUofiMD
— Sabine Kurz (@SabineKurz) March 25, 2017
More than 1,000 protesters have taken to the streets of Edinburgh in a simultaneous anti-Brexit protest organised by the city’s Young European Movement.
Marchers gathered in the city centre and headed to the Scottish parliament, waving EU and Scottish flags and carrying placards reading “We want EU to stay” and “In business lying is a crime, why not in politics?”
Among those giving speeches were Green MSP Ross Greer, Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP from the Liberal Democrats, SNP MPs Tommy Sheppard and Joanna Cherry.
Young European Movement Edinburgh chairman Jean Francois-Poncet said: “We want to raise the issue in British and Scottish people’s lives that you have lies in the referendum campaign that people were not held accountable for and, whether you voted Remain or Leave, that is a real issue.”
Fiamette Porri, 50, is from Italy, and met her husband Donald Thompson, 55, at a London nightclub 19 years ago this month.
“Soon I will have to get my daughter [Chiara, 12] an Italian pasport. I don’t know what to do [about UK citizenship]. I need to decide, but I’ve heard it’s a long waiting list and they can send your application back for small things. It’s 85 pages to fill,” Porri says.
“I know lots of people in this situation. They’re breaking families. The atmosphere is suddenly that maybe you think I wasn’t that welcome here in the first place. I came here 20 years ago because there were opportunities, but at the same time I contributed to being here: working, never took benefits, I pay taxes. And of course I was young then, but now, where do I go?”
Alastair Campbell tells the Remain movement not to give up: “When you see a car heading toward a cliff, you don’t keep driving.
“The media in this country is a right-wing cartel of tax-dodgers that pretends to speak for their readers when they speak for themselves and their own vested interest,” he adds.
Updated
More from Alastair Campbell:
"I know I am in a minority in thinking Brexit can be stopped, but I'm not in a minority in thinking that it should be," says @campbellclaret
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) March 25, 2017
Tens of thousands of anti-Brexit demonstrators fell silent at Parliament Square in tribute to the victims of the Westminster attack.
The first speaker, Alastair Campbell, said: “Before we talk about Brexit, before we call on any of the speakers, we need to recognise that something really bad happened not far from here just the other day.”
Campaigners stood with their heads bowed for a minute-long silence, with the only sound the chiming of Big Ben.
Updated
More from campaigning lawyer Jo Maugham, who says his recent legal action is about giving people a democratic voice.
“Starting article 50 is like a journey, a journey we can turn back from,” he tells the Unite For Europe rally.
He argues that much has changed already since the referendum was held: “Last year we voted in a very different world. We had no president who wanted to tear up the trade rules … or Nato. We did not know what Brexit means and we still do not know what Brexit means.”
Maugham adds: “Anyone who says they know what the popular mood is and we should give up is lying to you. What will make Brexit happen is if you give up.”
Barrister Jo Maugham is now addressing the crowd in Westminster.
Defiance from @JolyonMaugham “Anyone who says they know what the popular mood is is lying. What will make Brexit happen is if you give up.”
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) March 25, 2017
Farron: 'We are defiant'
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron cemented his growing role as the political leader of the Remain movement with a well-received address to the Unite For Europe march in Parliament Square.
Interestingly he claimed to speak not just for the 48% who voted against Brexit, but also many of those who did. “We are here to show solidarity and respect for those who voted leave. We do not believe they wanted this. [Theresa May] does not speak for 52% she barely speaks for 5%.”
He also voiced the mood of many of those in the crowd about their right to be in this place just days after the terrorist attack this week. “We are defiant against those who would seek us to be afraid about last Wednesday,” he said. “We are also defiant because democracy did not end on the 23rd of June,” added Farron.
Earlier the sound of Big Ben striking 145pm marked the end of a minute’s silence among a sombre but determined crowd.
“We will never be cowed, we are here to stand for our beliefs,” added Labour MEP Seb Dance.
Farron to cheers: “We are not giving up this week of all weeks. We here are as testament that we refuse to despair. Britain can be better."
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) March 25, 2017
Speakers have been taking to the stage in Parliament Square.
#uniteforeurope speaker Seb Dance MEP says: "It's not us who need to confront reality. It's the Brexiteers" says no mandate for hard brexit
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) March 25, 2017
Lib Dem's Tim Farron next at #uniteforeurope march says Theresa May makes Nigel Farage look like a moderate by choosing most extreme Brexit.
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) March 25, 2017
Updated
The front of the #uniteforEurope demo has reached Parliament Square now and many of the marchers are placing yellow flowers at the memorial. pic.twitter.com/bD48yryHTy
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) March 25, 2017
Updated
Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission’s president, has told French voters to remember the key role their country plays, together with the European Union, when they vote in next month’s presidential election in which the anti-EU candidate Marine Le Pen is a strong contender.
Juncker was asked at the EU summit in Rome about Le Pen’s antagonism toward the EU. He said “the role of France, together with the EU, is a central role” and must remain so.
“I’d tell the French, don’t forget to be France, which knows how to speak to the rest of the world.” He added: “I’d tell the French, stay French.”
Former BBC correspondent turned academic James Rodgers tweets:
On the corner of Piccadilly and St James'. #UniteForEurope demo has been passing for at least 45 mins and still thousands to come pic.twitter.com/igj2PTKPIl
— James Rodgers (@jmacrodgers) March 25, 2017
After dreadful events of Wednesday feels very good to be in Parliament Square as part of a democratic demonstration #UniteForEurope pic.twitter.com/0o8Hnf6uCR
— Howard Stevenson (@hstevenson10) March 25, 2017
On its 60th birthday, people from Sweden to Bulgaria speak their mind about whether the project is worth pursuing.
Pertinent point from the Financial Times’ Jonathan Eley:
UKIP now has zero MPs. And to think Cameron called a referendum on a matter of huge importance to placate this shower.
— Jonathan Eley (@JonathanEley) March 25, 2017
They call us #snowflakes because millions of us can create an avalanche. #MarchForEurope2017 #UniteForEurope pic.twitter.com/eA1WqFFxWn
— Matthew Hodson (@Matthew_Hodson) March 25, 2017
The Unite for Europe march isn’t just for people it seems...
March for Europe in Warsaw#EU60 #PLinEU #loveEU #loveEurope pic.twitter.com/P4KayqkHjM
— KOD International (@Kom_Obr_Dem_Int) March 25, 2017
Meanwhile in Warsaw, thousands have taken to the streets waving EU and Polish flags in a show of support for the union as leaders in Rome to mark the 60th anniversary of its founding treaty.
The rally in Warsaw, which is being held under the slogan “I Love You, Europe,” also comes as an expression of disapproval for the nationalist government in Warsaw.
The government critics fear that a recent eurosceptic stance taken by the government could ultimately result in Poland leaving the EU. The Polish government denies that that is its aim.
Thousands of people began their demonstration by singing the European anthem, Ode to Joy, followed by the Polish national anthem. They plan to march to the royal castle in the city centre.
Greek-born lecturer and longtime London resident Lakis Zervoulis (right) and friends on the march today.
Some very British signs from today’s march...
#UniteForEurope a good little selection pic.twitter.com/O2LNzeWG27
— Nicholas Gough (@bignickguff) March 25, 2017
The Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, who initially signalled that he would not sign the Rome declaration if it failed to acknowledge that European achievements applied to all, has said the EU is far from the place its founders dreamed of.
“It is not the Europe that we dreamed of and wanted,” he said in a television interview. “But there is no doubt that we have to fight within it to change it.”
Greece, the eurozone’s weakest member, had initially refused to sign the declaration because of objections over the wording.
Athens’ leftist-led government had demanded that the declaration be “enriched” with additional mention of European regulations protecting citizens’ labour rights – the major sticking point in stalled negotiations between Greece and the foreign lenders keeping the debt-stricken country afloat.
Tsipras said he had been assured protective rights applied to all “but it has to be seen in practice”.
Updated
And we're off. Crowd starts moving toward Green Park to the strains of "happy birthday to EU" pic.twitter.com/pJ7gnA7w8o
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) March 25, 2017
Carswell quits Ukip
Some breaking news: Ukip’s only member of parliament, Douglas Carswell, has quit the party, announcing on his website that he will become an independent MP.
Carswell, who defected from the Conservative party to Ukip in August 2014, said he was leaving the party “amicably, cheerfully and in the knowledge that we won”.
Updated
My fave so far #UniteForEurope #MarchForEurope2017 pic.twitter.com/ualCNctSFb
— James Purefoy (@JamesPurefoy) March 25, 2017
Juncker hails ‘optimistic mood’
The head of the European Commission said the EU’s 60th birthday declaration sets the scene for a growing mood of optimism.
Jean-Claude Juncker said after the leaders of 27 EU nations met that their Rome declaration was a good beginning for a wide-ranging discussion on the future of the bloc after Britain’s departure.
“The atmosphere is now such that we can approach this with confidence,” he said. “What we achieved in the days before Rome, and in the last few hours here in Rome, conveys something of an incipient optimistic mood because, contrary to what was assumed, there was no clash, no big dispute between several conceivable paths.”
Updated
More from Rome: EU leaders have signed the Rome declaration that enshrines the principle of a multi-speed bloc, allowing some nations can move ahead while others stay on the sidelines on specific issues.
The declaration, signed by 27 nations, said that “we will act together, at different paces and intensity where necessary, while moving in the same direction”.
The EU has often done that in practice in the past, with only 19 nations in the eurozone and not all members participating in the Schengen zone of borderless travel.
It appears that the start of the march has been delayed until noon at police request due to congestion. Buses are still arriving.
March steward tells me organisers expecting crowd of 16,000. Hoping for 20,000. Sounds about right to me. Angry heckling from motorists.
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) March 25, 2017
Updated
The leaders of the 27 states that will make up the European Union after Britain’s departure have gathered in Rome to reaffirm their support for the bloc.
Sixty years after the formation of the EU, leaders from across the continent met in the Italian capital to mark the anniversary of the treaty that founded the European Economic Community, creating a common market and customs union.
The leaders of the 27 member states assembled on Saturday morning in the Orazi and Curiazi Hall of the Capitol, in the Piazza del Campidoglio, and were greeted by the European council president, Donald Tusk, the Italian prime minister, Paolo Gentilini, and Joseph Muscat, the prime minister of Malta, the state that holds the rotating presidency of the council of the EU.
Meanwhile in Rome, the leaders of European Union members - except Theresa May - have gathered to mark the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. The treaty was the forerunner to what became the EU.
Large #UniteForEurope crowd gathered in Park Lane ready to start march. How large hard to tell from here. Not huge but not small either. pic.twitter.com/N8zGKQ1jGY
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) March 25, 2017
A spirited crowd of Brexit protesters gathered at Hyde Park Corner in spring sunshine for the start of the Unite For Europe march on parliament. Many were carrying yellow flowers to lay at the memorial for victims of the Westminster attacks.
All were carrying a message that they didn’t want their voices forgotten when Theresa May invokes Article 50 next week. “We want to show we are not alone,” said Rachael Shermaur, 51, who travelled from Devon last night. “We are not naive, but would like to remain optimists. If there is a public protest, then in some way that message might get through.”
Matt Kamen, who writes for the Observer and Wired among others, is at the Unite for Europe march.
Well, quite. #UniteForEurope #StopBrexit #EU4ME pic.twitter.com/xy7ge5dhGB
— Matt Kamen (@MattKamen) March 25, 2017
David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham in north London, tweets:
Don't mourn, organise. Will be speaking at #UniteForEurope later. See you there.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) March 25, 2017
Dan Roberts, our Brexit policy editor, is live tweeting the march:
Crowd beginning the gather in Park Lane for the Unite For Europe march on parliament. Sun shining, positive atmosphere, lots of EU flags pic.twitter.com/EiwVgLCz0n
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) March 25, 2017
Many of the #uniteforeurope marchers on Brexit rally carrying yellow flowers to lay at the memorial to terrorist victims outside parliament pic.twitter.com/UeBbeOlPD5
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) March 25, 2017
Rachael Shermaur from Devon is one of many to have travelled some way for #uniteforeurope march, says she want to show the 48% are not alone pic.twitter.com/5bM20Z6KR0
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) March 25, 2017
Welcome to our live coverage of the Unite for Europe march in central London today. The protest is being held just days before the prime minister is expected to trigger Article 50, which will formally notify Brussels of the UK’s intention to leave the European Union.
It is also the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which established the European Economic Community- the forerunner of the EU.
The march will set off from Park Lane outside the Hilton hotel and travel along Piccadilly, Pall Mall and Whitehall before ending at Parliament Square.
Include the hashtag #UniteforEurope on your tweets and you might see them on the live blog.
