ABOUT 100 pro-Europe campaigners staged a demonstration last night against a hard Brexit as Article 50 is triggered.

Protesters linked arms outside Hove Town Hall as Prime Minister Theresa May began the two-year countdown to leave the European Union.

The event was organised by pro-European campaign groups Open Britain and Brighton and Hove for Europe.

Ian Lovering, of Open Britain, said: “This Government’s pursuit of a hard Brexit will be bad for Brighton and terrible for the country.

“We have a large, international population here whose rights are being threatened.

“We have a local economy dependent on the free movement of people, goods and services that the EU’s single market makes possible.”