- Title: Protests on both sides of the Brexit debate gather outside Supreme Court
- Date: 5th December 2016
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (DECEMBER 5, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ENTRANCE TO SUPREME COURT WITH POLICE OFFICERS STANDING BY DOOR BUS OF ANTI-BREXIT PROTESTERS DRESSED AS JUDGES TURNING ROUND CORNER VARIOUS OF POSTER MOCKING FORMER UKIP LEADER AND BREXIT CAMPAIGNER, NIGEL FARAGE ANTI-BREXIT CAMPAIGNERS DRESSED AS JUDGES CHANTING ON BUS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANTI-BREXIT PROTESTER, KEN KIMBER, SAYING: "I find it obscene. The kind of language that was used. The headline in the Daily Mail about judges - 'Enemies of the people' well that's just incitement and it's rubbish and it harks back to the Nazi press directly of the 1930s." VARIOUS OF PRO-BREXIT PROTESTERS, JULIA AND MICHAEL WALLER, HOLDING SIGNS OUTSIDE COURT (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRO-BREXIT PROTESTER, EDWARD ANYAEJY, SAYING: "I just feel like that democracy is actually being thwarted by the judges in the first place. It should not be going to court. It should not be going to court at all. Leave and then afterwards you can discuss the terms of Brexit." WALLERS ARGUING WITH ANTI-BREXIT PROTESTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRO-BREXIT PROTESTER, JULIA WALLER, SAYING: "I think we are sleepwalking into losing freedom in this country and freedom is a very precious word. We fought two world wars, we've got to be a proud nation. We're not proud, we're not patriotic. We're politically correct and we are turning on ourselves. It's making me very cross, it's making a lot of people cross. There's a very bad atmosphere." DOG DRAPED IN EU FLAG EU FLAG HANGING FROM DOUBLE DECKER RED BUS LEAD CLAIMANT AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT, GINA MILLER, ARRIVING AT COURT TO APPLAUSE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANTI-BREXIT PROTESTER, DIANE DATSON, SAYING: "This is all part of British democracy. It is quite odd because this is what Farage really started shouting about and chanting about and it was there all along for him. It was never gone. It has always been there. It was part of his campaign for no reason at all, we always knew it was there." UNITED KINGDOM ROYAL COAT OF ARMS ON COURT EXTERIOR BIG BEN CHIMING AND PARLIAMENT SQUARE BIG BEN
- Embargoed: 20th December 2016 11:05
- Keywords: Supreme Court Article 50 Brexit Gina Miller European Union
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA0015BLXZRB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: 3025-BRITAIN-EU/ARTICLE50-MILLER (sent to WNE on Wednesday November 30) contains an interview with lead claimant Gina Miller.
A small group of pro and anti-Brexit protesters gathered outside Britain's Supreme Court on Monday (December 5), as the government appealed against a court ruling that triggering Article 50, which would start the process of Britain leaving the EU needs parliamentary approval.
If the government loses the Supreme Court appeal, it could upset Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plans.
Brexit campaigner and former UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, had promised that 100,000 people would march on the court.
But he cancelled the plans a couple of weeks ago, amid fears the march would be hijacked by far-right elements and could turn violent.
The numbers of Brexit supporters outside the court barely made it into double figures.
The government's legal fight comes against a backdrop of claims by some politicians and newspapers that establishment judges want to thwart the Brexit process.
Anti-Brexit protesters dressed as judges in support of the justices drove around noisily chanting in a red double-decker bus.
One of them, Ken Kimber, said he found it "obscene" the way some of the judges had been portrayed in Britain's media.
"The headline in the Daily Mail about judges, 'Enemies of the People, well that's just incitement and it's rubbish and it harks back to the Nazi press directly of the 1930s," he said.
Passions were high despite the small numbers as protesters argued outside the court.
Gina Miller, who is the lead claimant in the case against the government, arrived to cheers from supporters.
It will be the most high-profile and complex case the court has considered since it came into being seven years ago and is due to last for four days. For the first time all its 11 justices will sit on the panel with the verdict due later in January.
If the government's appeal wins, they can proceed with plans to invoke Article 50 by the end of March.
But if they lose, parliament could in theory block Brexit as most lawmakers supported staying in the EU in a referendum in June, though few observers expect such an outcome. Even so, lawmaker approval could open the process to greater scrutiny and delay. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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