'Stop Boris': Banners protesting UK PM Boris Johnson flown over Premier League games

By Ben Morse, CNN

Updated 1429 GMT (2229 HKT) January 23, 2022

A plane flies over the stadium with a message directed to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson during the Premier League match between Leeds United and Newcastle United at Elland Road.

(CNN)Banners protesting UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson were flown over Premier League games on Saturday.

The banners were seen over Manchester United's clash with West Ham United at Old Trafford as well as at Elland Road where Leeds United hosted Newcastle United. The message towed behind the plane read: «Boot him out!» followed by the website of the group who organized the protest, Open Britain. In a message posted on Twitter confirming it was behind the message, Open Britain said: «We've taken the campaign to #StopBoris to the skies. »The country no longer wants him as PM — now's the time to boot him out and the place to make it happen is stopboris.com."Read MoreVisit CNN.com/sport for more news, features, and videosA general view of the Premier League match between Manchester United and West Ham at Old Trafford.The website linked in the protest takes users to a petition calling for Johnson to be removed from power, which has almost 80,000 signatures at the time of writing. It comes as the pressure continues to mount on Johnson over alleged summer garden parties and Christmas gatherings held in Downing Street when the rest of the country was under strict Covid-19 lockdowns. A report into the allegations, set to be released this week, could be the final straw for Johnson's increasingly mutinous party.

Ivana Kottasová contributed to this report.