Momentum activist calls on supporters to march on Buckingham Palace and 'protest the Queen'

George Martin
·2 min read
Anti-Brexit supporters gather outside the Prime Minister's residence 10 Downing Street in London, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2019. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday to suspend Parliament, throwing down the gauntlet to his critics and causing outrage among opposition leaders who will have even less time to thwart a no-deal Brexit. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Anti-Brexit supporters gather outside 10 Downing Street earlier this week. (AP)

A Momentum activist has called for anti-Brexit campaigners to march on Buckingham Palace to “protest the Queen”.

Michael Chessum called for mass action after the Queen this week granted Prime Minister Boris Johnson permission to prorogue Parliament for five weeks.

Mr Chessum, who has organised a series of anti-Brexit rallies for the far-left group in the past, said he wanted to encourage “civil disobedience” to stop the suspension of Parliament.

"These protests will be unpredictable,” he told the Times, “We will organise the rallies but then what people do is anybody’s guess.

Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Boris Johnson during an audience in Buckingham Palace, where she will officially recognise him as the new Prime Minister, in London, Britain July 24, 2019. Victoria Jones/Pool via REUTERS
Earlier this week the Queen granted Boris Johnson permission to prorogue Parliament. (Reuters)

“There are a lot of passionate and angry people and we cannot just persuade Boris Johnson nicely that what he is doing is wrong.

“We are encouraging civil disobedience, in whatever form that takes. It might mean shutting down bridges, it might mean marching to Buckingham Palace and protesting the Queen.”

Mr Chesson is perhaps best known for once having dismissed Jeremy Corbyn’s “kinder politics” in favour of a “heads on sticks” approach.

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His calls for protests were echoed by Momentum’s national co-ordinator Laura Parker who said activists should block bridges and road as part of the huge demonstrations.

She told The Times: “Real power doesn’t sit with the Queen or in parliament. It’s with us the people - and that’s why we need to take action.

“Our message to Johnson is this: if you steal our democracy, we’ll shut down the streets.

Anti-Brexit supporters gather outside the Prime Minister's residence 10 Downing Street in London, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2019. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday to suspend Parliament, throwing down the gauntlet to his critics and causing outrage among opposition leaders who will have even less time to thwart a no-deal Brexit. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Protests have been staged in central London all week following the announcement. (AP)

It comes as Mr Johnson said challenges to his decision to prorogue Parliament are making the prospect of obtaining a deal “less likely”.

The Prime Minister hit out at his critics on Friday morning following the news that a bid by a cross-party group of more than 70 politcians to overturn the suspension had been refused by a Scottish court.

“I’m afraid that the more our friends and partners think, at the back of their mind, that Brexit could be stopped, that the UK could be kept in by Parliament, the less likely they are to give us the deal that we need,” Mr Johnson said.

Following the Queen’s approval of the PM’s request for Parliament to be suspended for five weeks from September 10, the group had sought an ‘interim interdict’ to block the suspension until a final decision had been made on the case.

But their attempt failed on Friday, when the request was denied at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.