Representing the reaction of many British and European progressives, Nick Dearden, director of the UK-based campaign organization Global Justice Now, said the outcome was deeply troubling, though not shocking.

“It’s hardly surprising that people have voiced such distrust towards the EU when it negotiates exploitative trade deals like TTIP, visits economic destruction on its own member states, and treats refugees as if they were criminals,” Dearden said. “But the mainstream ‘leave’ campaigns have done a great deal of damage by pandering to nationalism, building a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment and fostering the spurious notion that outside the EU we can return to an age when Britain was the world’s foremost ‘great power’.”

“Britain’s decision to leave the European Union opens up a world of uncertainty in which we must now navigate in a positive direction,” he added. “Under these conditions, it’s even more important that organisations and activists redouble their efforts to oppose toxic trade deals, corporate power grabs and above all defend the rights and dignity of migrants.” 

On the same day that UK residents vote as to whether the country should leave or remain in the EU, torrential rains descended on England, stranding many in London as railway terminals closed, while other Brits were stuck on the continent as a result of French labor strikes.