Around 20 people from the interest group British Immigrants Living in Luxembourg (Brill) handed out free tea and biscuits to about 600 passersby in Grand Rue to raise awareness about their plight.  

“We don’t just want to stay here. There’s a whole package of rights we enjoy as European citizens: the right to employment, the right to work, the right to move freely, the right to retire in another country, the right to have our qualifications recognised across borders,” Saturday’s organiser Neil Bennett told Delano, adding: “Just being allowed to stay isn’t enough”.

The action was run in parallel to Saturday’s “Unite for Europe” march in London, the UK, to which thousands of EU supporters flocked.

Bennett explained that hosting a protest march in Luxembourg did not seem appropriate given that the uncertain future for the 6,000 or so Britons living in Luxembourg was not the fault of Luxembourg. Passsersby were generally sympathetic to the group’s plight, Bennett said.

Brill was established after the UK’s 2016 EU referendum, with the goal of preserving the status quo of British nationals living in Luxembourg through lobbying and other actions.

On Tuesday 28 March, Brill will be among a number of interest groups with representatives who will meet Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator, before formal talks begin.

In a letter to campaigners Barnier said that Europe was committed to addressing the issues of EU citizens living in the UK and UK citizens living in Europe as a “top priority” in the negotiations.