Europeans watch in somber silence as the European Union takes down UK flags hours before Brexit

Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesWorkers of the European Parliament fold the British flag after removing it from the row of flags of European Union member states outside the European Parliament shortly before midnight on January 31, 2020 in Brussels, Belgium.

• Footage and pictures show somber-looking EU staff in Brussels taking down Union Jack flags hours before Brexit.
• The UK will finally leave the EU on Friday evening, three-and-a-half years after its Brexit referendum.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The European Union removed Union Jack flags from their key buildings on Friday night, hours before the United Kingdom leaves the EU after 46 years of membership.

Footage posted online shows sombre-looking EU officials removing UK flags as Britain prepares to finally leave the EU three-and-half-years since the country voted to leave the bloc in a referendum.

In the footage below, filmed inside the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium, EU officials take down and fold-up a Union Jack, leaving an empty pole in between the flags of the remaining 27 EU member states.

European Council Pool/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Outside the European Parliament, a Union Jack was lowered and then replaced by an EU flag.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

The UK will leave the EU at 11 pm (GMT) on Friday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to describe the moment as a "new dawn" for the country in a video message to the nation.

Our Brexit Insider Facebook group is the best place for up-to-date news and analysis about Britain's departure from the EU, direct from Business Insider's political reporters. Join here.

NOW WATCH: A Georgetown professor explains how Martin Luther King Jr. 'has been severely whitewashed'