VIDEO-Britons split after seismic EU vote

More than a million Britons pleaded for a second referendum Saturday as Britain's seismic vote to abandon the EU split the nation after pounding world markets, toppling the prime minister and raising the threat of a breakup of the island nation.

In a sign of the fissures exposed by the June 23 vote, 1.2 million people signed a petition on the official government website by late morning calling for a repeat vote -- more than 12 times the 100,000 signatures required for a proposal to be discussed in the lower house of parliament.

Unprecedented traffic forced the site to be taken out of action at one point, a parliamentary spokesman said.

A parliamentary committee, which can put forward petitions for debate by lawmakers, will consider the proposal Tuesday.

"I am worried, really sick for my children's prospects," said Lindsey Brett, a 57-year-old secretarial worker.

"I was expecting a 'Remain' vote. I did not think we would come out," she said in central London.

Britons, many worried about immigration and financial insecurity, cast aside Prime Minister David Cameron's warnings of isolation and economic disaster and voted 52 percent-48 percent in favour of "Brexit" in Thursday's referendum.

Their decision pounded sterling and global stock markets. Moody's cut Britain's credit rating outlook to "negative", warning of the economic threat to the country.

Cameron announced Friday he would resign by October and let his successor lead the exit negotiations under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which sets out a two-year time-frame to leave.

European powers called for Britain to be shown the door quickly as they grappled with the impending loss of one of the world's top economies, the first defection in the bloc's 60-year history.

Brexit negotiations must take place "quickly and swiftly", EU Commissioner Pierre Moscovici told Britain's Radio 4 on Saturday.

1/21 SLIDES© Toby Melville/Reuters

The "leave" camp has emerged victorious in UK's EU referendum. They polled 52 per cent of the total votes to initiate the process of the UK leaving the EU. Nigel Farage, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, told his supporters "Dare to dream that the dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom." We look at the reactions following the decisive result.

(Pictured) Farage celebrates as he leaves a "Leave.eu" organization party for the EU membership referendum in London.

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A "leave" supporter holds a Union Jack, following the result of the EU referendum, outside Downing Street in London.

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A passersby receives an extra edition of a newspaper with the headline, "Britain, EU Leave," in Tokyo, Japan.

4/21 SLIDES© Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images

A man looks at his computer screen showing the Brexit live poll and real-time GBP/HKD rates in Hong Kong.

5/21 SLIDES© Kin Cheung/AP Images

A screen shows world stock market index at Hong Kong Stock Exchange in Hong Kong.

6/21 SLIDES© Neil Hall/Reuters

A woman wearing a vote "remain" t-shirt reacts following the result in London.

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A trader from BGC, a global brokerage company in London's Canary Wharf financial center, reacts during trading after the results.

8/21 SLIDES© Thomas Peter/Reuters

A man walks past a screen displaying the Nikkei average outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan.

9/21 SLIDES© Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

People stand in front of a screen displaying news of market updates inside the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai, India.

10/21 SLIDES© Francois Lenoir/Reuters

European Council President Donald Tusk briefs the media after Britain voted to leave the bloc, in Brussels, Belgium.

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Britain's PM David Cameron addresses the nation after the result.

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Members of the media gather outside 10 Downing Street in anticipation of Cameron's address.

13/21 SLIDES© Toby Melville/Reuters

"Leave" supporters cheer results at a Leave.eu party.

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A "leave" EU supporter holds a Union Jack.

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A supporter of the "Stronger In" campaign reacts after hearing the result at London's Royal Festival Hall.

16/21 SLIDES© Rob Stothard/Reuters

Supporters of the "Stronger In" campaign react after hearing the result in London.

17/21 SLIDES© Ray Tang/REX Shutterstock

Farage greets supporters as the referendum results poured in, at Millbank Tower, London.

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Paul Nuttall (L), Member of the European Parliament and "Vote Leave" campaigners celebrate as positive results come in from the counts at Manchester Town Hall.

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Supporters of the "Stronger In" campaign look dejected after hearing results in London.

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A "Vote Leave" supporter celebrates outside Vote Leave HQ at Westminster Tower in London.

21/21 SLIDES© Ryan Wilkinosn/Press Association; Anthony Devlin/Press Association

Piper Anton Doherty, (L), plays the bagpipes outside the Islington home of former Mayor of London Boris Johnson, a "leave" campaign supporter, after the results. (R) "Leave" supporters celebrate opposite the Houses of Parliament in front of Sir Winston Churchill's statue.

- Quick divorce -

"I do not understand why the British government needs until October to decide whether to send the divorce letter to Brussels," Juncker told German broadcaster ARD on Friday evening.

"I would like it immediately," he added.

"It is not an amicable divorce but it was also not an intimate love affair."

Foreign ministers of the six original EU members -- Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg -- gathered in Berlin for the first in a series of emergency meetings over the next week triggered by Britain's decision.

"We join together in saying that this process must begin as soon as possible so we don't end up in an extended limbo period but rather can focus on the future of Europe and the work toward it," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier as he entered the meeting at a lakeside villa.

The Franco-German axis at the heart of the bloc, which was born out of a determination to forge lasting peace after two world wars, will propose "concrete solutions" to make the EU more effective, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told AFP.

He, too, called on London to move more swiftly.

EU leaders will open a two-day Brussels summit on the crisis on Tuesday.

In an early sign of the Brexit fallout in Brussels, Britain's European commissioner for financial services, Jonathan Hill, said he would stand down.

"I don't believe it is right that I should carry on as the British commissioner as though nothing had happened," he said in a statement.

Britain faced a historic break-up threat, too, as Scotland stood aghast at the prospect of being dragged out of the 28-nation European Union when more than 60 percent of its people voted to stay in.

"A second independence referendum is clearly an option that requires to be on the table," First Minister Nicola Sturgeon declared after an emergency meeting of Scotland's parliament, which agreed to start to draw up legislation that could enable such a vote once a decision is taken.

- Surprise, regret -

Scotland is seeking "immediate discussions" with its EU partners to try to protect its position in the bloc, she said.

Scots backed staying in Britain in their last referendum in 2014.

The EU referendum, the culmination of an often poisonous campaign, revealed divides across British society, including between what The Independent newspaper called "those doing well from globalisation and those 'left behind' and not seeing the benefits in jobs or wages".

Young people, graduates, and big cities tended to favour "Remain". Elder, less educated people and rural populations were more likely to back "Brexit".

Britain's rejection of the EU is being seen as a victory for the anti-establishment rhetoric of the Brexit campaign, a feature of growing populism across Europe.

"Take a bow, Britain!" eurosceptic newspaper the Daily Mail wrote across its front page on Saturday.

"It was the day the quiet people of Britain rose up against an arrogant, out-of-touch political class and a contemptuous Brussels elite," it added.

The British vote will stoke fears of a domino-effect of exit votes in eurosceptic member states that could imperil the integrity of the bloc.

Dutch far-right MP Geert Wilders and French National Front leader Marine Le Pen immediately called for referendums on EU membership in their own countries.

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