Activists begin long march in UK to protest Brexit betrayal

SUNDERLAND, United Kingdom: More than one hundred people have launched a long march in the UK to protest what they believe is a betrayal of a 2016 public vote to leave the European Union.The march began in Sunderland, northeast England, on Saturday, and is expected to end in London’s Parliament Square on March 29, the date on which Britain is expected to leave the EU.

Arch eurosceptic Nigel Farage led a hundred anxious Brexit backers through the mud of England’s industrial northeast towards London, demanding certainty that Britain leaves the EU this month.

But lawmakers’ refusal to back the divorce deal Prime Minister Theresa May struck with Brussels has put Britain’s divorce from the EU in some doubt.

May will try this week to push her pact through the divided House of Commons for a third time.

If it is approved, the prime minister will ask the remaining 27 EU leaders to sign off on a Brexit deadline extension through June to allow parliament to pass the necessary legislation.

Another rejection of the deal and May will be forced to seek a longer delay that some EU leaders have said could last through the end of next year.

"Sunderland is very symbolic. It was the Sunderland result on the night of the (2016 Brexit) referendum that made us think -- wow, this is going to happen," Farage said before setting off on the march in a brand new pair of sneakers and trench coat.

"I believe we are witnessing a betrayal. I think we are witnessing, in terms of our nation’s democratic history, one of the saddest chapters."

Farage was a poster child of the pro-Brexit effort whose calls for barriers to migrants and sovereignty from EU rules struck a cord in working-class cities such as Sunderland.