Claudia Cobban, 46

from the Black Forest in Germany, lives in Malvern, works in social housing; and her daughter Maya, 13

It’s fair enough making a choice to leave or not to leave but you need to do it on good information. Now we have better information an informed choice can be made. I’ve been here 20 years and my husband and children are English so I love this country and have no intention to leave. But I’m worried – not just about my rights, but about the mood in the country. We’re polarised and people are scared to discuss it with the other side. Just saying: “Aren’t the other side rubbish!” isn’t good enough. The mood now is that you’re a traitor if you speak to the other side. The base of democracy is dialogue and we need to get to the issues below why Brexit happened. For me it’s not a contradiction between being European and being German or being in this country and loving it and feeling British. That’s all in my person.

Annisha Jhatakia, 24. Will her dream job with the EU be possible? Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer

Annisha Jhatakia, 24

from Manchester, postgraduate student in European law at UCL

Personally, Brexit will be awful for me. My dream job was working for the EU but I don’t know if that will be at all possible. But it’s awful for people in all sorts of industries who just don’t know what they’re doing. I’ve got family and friends who are pro-Brexit – I come from Manchester and many northern towns feel detached from Westminster; so for many people the Brexit vote was an opportunity to protest about the British government, not the EU. But the more money they put into Brexit, the less they can put into the NHS and the benefits system. The march today has a very positive atmosphere - so many different ages and walks of life, all coming together to protest against something they agree is bad for the country. No one is here for themselves, they’re here for everyone.

Martin Tedd, 61. ‘Better off in than out.’ Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer

Martin Tedd, 61

from Birmingham, retired owner of a software company

I’m here because I believe we are far better off in than out. Economically, it’s well proved in every independent analysis. And we were fooled in the last referendum. We were fooled by people like Farage and Johnson and the populist politicians who seem to be holding sway in Britain and Europe and America. They’ve offered simple solutions to complex problems. These people gain their strength from saying whatever they think will be popular – they don’t even care if people find them out. There were so many poor arguments in the last referendum which were about identity politics and about immigration, that were basically untrue. Well, now it’s time to have a second ballot on what has been decided - because it’s very, very different from what was promised. So I’m marching today because I hope there will be a people’s vote. Am I optimistic? No.

Chris Campbell, 37. ‘A real shame and a waste.’ Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer

Christopher Campbell, 37

from Macclesfield, data scientist

The way the Brexit movement has grown from internal Tory politics to a national issue is a real shame and a waste. The people who really want Brexit are doing it because of an emotional response, rather than being able to see the full impact on their own communities. If they get what they want, I think they’ll be utterly shocked and horrified by the damage they’ve done. As a data scientist it interests me that the way the Brexit debate is being conducted is not about facts, it’s about emotions because the issue is too complex to fully break down. Leavers are being pulled by Brexit-pushing newspapers which make them feel Brexit is something they should be thinking about, and deflecting them away from the real issues. All my life I’ve ignored that type of newspaper and thought: “It’s just words.” But it turns out that words matter.

Andrew Lee, 35. A second referendum can break the deadlock. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer

Andrew Lee, 35

from Toronto, lives in London, works in finance

I have dual British-Canadian citizenship. I feel a second referendum is the only way to get out of the deadlock, irrespective of one’s preference for leave or remain because we need a steer from the people, now that three years have passed and the goalposts have moved. People think differently now, after being misled in 2016, and we should have the opportunity to say: “We don’t want to do this any more. We don’t want to compound our errors.” You only need to look at what’s happened to the pound to see how much faith people have that the current administration can negotiate a better trade deal than what we’ve got. Fundamentally, the question is: What is the path forward for this country and this people? And the three administrations in the last three years have been unable to pull us out of this quagmire.