British Prime Minister Boris Johnson sent an unsigned letter to the
European Union on Saturday requesting a delay to Brexit but he also sent
another message in which he stated he did not want the extension, a
government source said.
Johnson was compelled by a law, passed by opponents last month, to ask the bloc for an extension to the current
Brexit deadline of Oct. 31 until Jan. 31 after lawmakers
thwarted his attempt to pass his EU divorce deal earlier on Saturday.
The government source said Johnson sent a total of three letters to
Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council:
a photocopy of the text that the law, known as the Benn Act, forced him
to write; a cover note from Britain's EU envoy; and a third letter in
which he said he did not want an extension.
As Parliament met in London Saturday morning and voted to
force a Brexit delay,
hundreds of thousands of anti-Brexit protesters marched in the city’s
streets demanding citizens be given a second chance at deciding whether
to leave the European Union.
The massive crowds moved through the city towards
Parliament in a festive and defiant demonstration of frustration with
the country’s impending break with the EU, the
New York Times reported.
Organizers of the effort told the Times they expected more than a
million demonstrators, which would make it one of the largest protests
Britain has ever had.
The demonstrators were joined by a host of current and
former politicians, as well as celebrities, who addressed the crowd. In
his speech, former Conservative deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine
said Brexit represents
“a creeping paralysis, where yesterday’s nostalgia distorts tomorrow’s opportunities”.
Note EU-Digest: Boris Johnson by politically manuevering in a very
devious and undemocratic way, without letting the people have a final
say on the agreement he reached with the EU, is taking Britain on a
disastrous destructive path, from which they probably will never recover
.
Read more at: UK PM Johnson sends conflicting messages to EU on Brexit delay request
