(London) – More than a million people signed an online petition within 24 hours asking the British government to stop Brexit, briefly crashing the site Thursday during a surge in support.
With just eight days to go until Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union, the petition launched on Wednesday admitted that a second Brexit referendum “may not happen — so vote now”.
“The government repeatedly claims exiting the EU is ´the will of the people´. We need to put a stop to this claim by proving the strength of public support now, for remaining in the EU,” the petition read.
A House of Commons spokesman said the technical difficulties on parliament´s e-petition website were caused by “a large and sustained load on the system”.
The petition was started by Margaret Anne Georgiadou, who told the BBC: “It´s almost like a dam bursting.
“It´s now or never for a lot of people,” she said.
European leaders piled the pressure on British MPs Thursday to back a divorce deal they have negotiated with Prime Minister Theresa May, warning that the alternative was a cliff-edge exit from the EU next week.
