From Super Saturday to Extension Rebellion

Stop me if you’ve heard this before… but in this past week the UK Prime Minister said that they had reached a deal with the EU on how to carry out Brexit. This deal was then brought to Westminster to be approved, where an amendment passing meant that the Prime Minister was asked to get an extension for negotiations. All of this took place while thousands of people took to the streets to protest against Brexit. 

Think that you’ve heard it all before? Think again. 

Let’s start at the beginning of this past week, when the Queen opened Parliament and outlined the government’s policies on crime, health, the environment and Brexit. These policies included plans for tougher sentences for violent offenders and legal targets for cutting plastic pollution. Amongst all of the usual pomp and ceremony you could be mistaken for thinking – for a brief moment – that UK politics had descended into business as usual. But of course this is the age of Brexit, and no one seems to really know what ‘business of usual’ looks like anymore. Ministers stated ahead of the Queen’s speech that a Brexit deal by the 31st of October is a “priority” for the Johnson government, and they hoped that one could be passed through Parliament “at pace.”  

These Ministers’ wishes appeared to come true on Thursday when Boris Johnson announced that he and EU officials had agreed on the draft text of a withdrawal agreement. However, the former Conservative Party allies in all things Brexit – the DUP – opposed the deal, stating that plans to leave Northern Ireland as an entry point into the EU’s custom’s zone is “not acceptable within the internal borders of the United Kingdom.”  The DUP  – the party that famously opposed the Good Friday Agreement – also stated that the deal “drove a coach and horses” through the Good Friday Agreement, and posed a risk to the integrity of the union of the United Kingdom. This rebellion by the DUP deprived the Prime Minister as his most obvious path to a majority vote for his deal as he called for a special session in Parliament on Saturday. 

The term ‘Super Saturday’ used to describe this special session in Parliament could easily be mistaken for a title used to refer to the rugby world cup games taking place in Japan (although perhaps not to describe Ireland’s performance). Instead it was used to describe political scenes that have rarely taken place in the UK before, as up to a million people marched on the streets of London demanding a ‘People’s Vote’ while MPs met in the House of commons to vote on the Prime Minister’s deal. Members of the public reportedly started queuing in the Commons gallery up to two hours before the debate began in the chamber. 

Those who queued up to watch the debate were not disappointed, as the former Tory minister Oliver Letwin’s amendment passed 322 votes to 306, meaning that the Prime Minister did not get a clear yes or no vote on his deal. Instead Parliament will have to withhold approval of the deal until the withdrawal bill implementing Brexit has been passed. Votes on this are scheduled to kick off on Tuesday of this coming week.  

Boris Johnson has now been forced to write to the EU asking for a Brexit delay – although he has refused to sign it. In a second letter, that he did sign, the Prime Minister stated that a long delay on delivering Brexit will have a “corrosive impact.” Commons Speaker John Bercow has not yet announced if he will allow the ‘meaningful vote’ on the Brexit deal that the government desires on Monday of this coming week. Meanwhile, the clock continues to tick down on the current deadline for delivering Brexit – October 31st. 

 

Ceasefire in Syria

It’s been another turbulant week in US foreign policy and domestic politics. US President Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from north-eastern Syria turned a relatively stable part of the county into a battleground. 

The week began with a phone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Trump. During the call the US asked for the implementation of an immediate cease-fire while stating that it plans to impose sanctions against Turkey in response to its military aggression against the Kurds. Erdogan rejected the US’s requests to broker a ceasefire with Syrian Kurds, with President Erodgan stating that Turkey will “not sit at the table with terrorist organisations.” 

Turkey considers the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to be affiliated with the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), although the SDF have traditionally been US allies who have assisted in the fight against ISIS in northern Syria. President Trump accompanied these threats of sanctions with a letter to President Erdogan, urging the world leader to not “be a tough guy” or “a fool!” This refusal led to an even worse threat than economically crippling sanctions – a meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence.  

In talks in Ankara that took place between Turkey and Kurdish forces on Thursday with US Vice President Mike Pence Turkey agreed to pause the fighting for five days to allow Kurdish fighters to withdraw from areas occupied by Turkey. Pence stated that the ceasefire will “save lives,” however critics believe that this move signifies a clear victory for President Erdogan, who will gain territory as a result. Fighting along the Turkish border continued over this past weekend in spite of the ceasefire, with Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell stating that President Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from the region was a huge mistake.

In the background to all of this the impeachment proceedings against President Trump are still continuing, as is the race for the Democratic candidate in the upcoming US Presidential elections. In this past week testimonies were brought before Congress that make it clear that the President was pushing the Ukrainians to investigate the son of Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden. Meanwhile, Joe Biden himself was taking party in the largest presidential debate in US history, with 12 candidates taking the stage. Throughout the debate the Democratic presidential candidates fiercely criticised the US withdrawal in Syria.

 

Barcelona burns

Riots broke out in Barcelona throughout the week over the jailing of Catalan separatist leaders. Spanish police have estimated that more than 500,000 people were involved in rallies.

On Monday the Spanish Supreme Court sentenced nine separatist officials to between nine and 13 years in prison on charges of sedition and misappropriation of funds in their failed 2017 push for regional independence for Catalonia from Spain. This push included an impromptu referendum on Catalan independence, which was declared illegal by Madrid. According to the Spanish constitution the referendum had no legitimacy, however that did not stop more than 90 percent of those who participated in the vote backing independence from Spain. 

The protests have cause significant disruption in Barcelona, the capital of the Catalonia region, leading to 108 flights being cancelled on the first day of the protests alone, and more than 90 people on both sides being injured. However this push for Catalan independence has plunged Spain into its worst crisis in decades, with rioting unlikely to end anytime soon as Catalan regional leader Quim Torra has promised that “We [the Catalonians] will return to the ballot box again for self-determination.” 

 

Anti-government protests in Lebanon 

In this past week anti-government protests have swept across Lebanon after the government attempted to introduce a 20 per cent tax on WhatsApp calls. This unrest comes after years of corruption and economic mismanagement by Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s government brought the country to the brink of financial collapse – with the new tax proving to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

The Lebanese government was quick to scrap the plans for this new tax hours after clashes erupted between security force and protestors in what is reported to be the biggest demonstrations seen in Lebanon for years. Thousands of protestors are now demanding the “fall of the regime” in Beirut. 

Prime Minister Hariri has now given his opponents a 72 hour deadline to agree on solutions to the country’s economic crisis, amid growing calls for the government to resign. Addressing the protestors Hariri said that Lebanon was going through an “unprecedented, difficult time.” Economists and investors have warned that Lebanon’s economy and financial system are closer to the brink than at any time since the 1980s, meaning that it is unlikely that any solution will be found in a mere 72 hours, although Prime Minister Hariri has hinted that he might step down unless his reforms are passed by the government by this deadline.

Hariri has described the protests as an “angry cry” against the government, while largely blaming his opponents for the chaos. Meanwhile Lebanon’s influential Hezbollah leader has stated that the group was not demanding the government’s resignation amid these widespread national protests. More people are expected to arrive for protests in the coming days, with 70 people having been arrested so far in these protests.

 

Extinction Rebellion protests banned

At the beginning of the week London’s Metropolitan Police issued a ban on Extinction Rebellion’s climate change protests taking place throughout the city. 

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan stated that he was not made aware that the police were going to impose a ban on the protests in London. The decision was met with widespread criticism as police removed the environmental group from spots around central London following more than a week of disruption The climate change group planned to hold protests for two weeks, ending on Saturday 20 October. The protests – and subsequent arrests of protestors – continued throughout the city despite the ban including the arrest of Jeffery Newman, a 77-year-old rabbi, and the arrest of a protestor who scaled the scaffolding of Big Ben dressed as Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

The climate change group was met with criticism during this past week as Extinction Rebellion activists climbed on top of trains at Stratford, Canning Town and Shadwell during rush hour. The protestors were dragged off of the trains by angry commuters and eight people were arrested as a result of the incidents. The group acknowledged that the action was “divisive” and highlighted that disrupting London trains was opposed by a majority of the activists in a poll. 

Over two weeks of protesting in central London more than 1,760 arrests took place, and both the government and police are now working to strengthen public order laws to allow a tougher crackdown on any future protests. Civil rights lawyers have warned that these laws could be a “shocking assault on the right to protest.