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An SOS signal to the EU has been projected onto the White Cliffs of Dover by anti-Brexit protesters.

Activist group Led By Donkeys have beamed a huge SOS message onto the White Cliffs of Dover calling for a Brexit extension and a confirmation vote.

The group posted three tweets addressing French President Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, written in English, German and French.

Alongside a picture of the 50m by 75m projection, they wrote: “Dear Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, opportunists from the hard right want Britain to crash out of Europe, even though a majority now wants to stay.

“We think the people should decide what happens next. But please give us more time.”

Brexit Coordinator for the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt responded to the tweet writing: "Quite something to see the White Cliffs of Dover turn blue. But the European project is much more than a lifebuoy. It's our rock on which we have to build our future, especially in turbulent times."

The call for help came as a cross-party group of MPs forced through an emergency bill to instruct Prime Minister Theresa May to seek an extension to article 50 and avoid a no-deal Brexit.

The bill passed its third reading about half an hour before midnight on Wednesday by one vote. On Thursday it was being considered in the House of Lords.

Led By Donkeys is the force behind viral billboards working to expose Brexit doublespeak by politicians.

At the People’s Vote march they unfurled a banner printed with a tweet from David Davis saying: “If a democracy cannot change its mind, it ceases to be a democracy”. Aerial photos of it, taken from a helicopter they hired, were shared millions of times around the world.

They also followed Theresa May to Brussels and put her tweet reading “It’s in Britain’s national interest to remain in the European Union” on a billboard just as she arrived to negotiate her deal, and they have skewered the hypocrisy of Nigel Farage.