‘A Democratic Outrage’: Thousands Protest Boris Johnson Suspending Parliament

With parliament in recess over summer, August in Westminster is typically marked by a state of quiet. 

But on Wednesday night, just hours after it was revealed Boris Johnson had successfully petitioned the Queen to suspend parliament, the landmark College Green was anything but.

“Stop the coup,” thousands of protesters chanted just metres from parliament, EU flags forming a sea of blue and yellow. “Shove your Brexit up your arse,” was another cry.

“Around the world, people are fighting for the rights our prime minister is so callously giving away,” one of the organisers of the demonstration told the crowd. “Our prime minister must hear loud and clear from all over our country – this is a democratic outrage.” 

Johnson has insisted parliament is being shut down to allow him to set out his new “exciting” agenda in a speech by the Queen. 

But for those driven to the streets as the sun set over central London, the prime minister’s move – one that has sent shockwaves across the political world – is a bid to kill off attempts by MPs to block a no-deal Brexit. 

Blowing up balloons emblazoned with the EU flag near Westminster Abbey, James Hutchinson – a Lib Dem voter – called Johnson’s behaviour “terrifying”.