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Brit expats in Luxembourg protest Johnson visit
| Published: | 17 Sep at 6 PM |
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Luxembourg-based British expat protestors gave Boris Johnson a hard time as he left after his lunch meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker to attend a meeting with the Luxembourg PM.
The scene outside the meeting quickly turned to chaos as the assembled expatriate protestors booed the PM and shouted Brexit chants as he was driven away for his appointment with Luxembourg’s Prime Minister. Minutes later, chief negotiator Michel Barnier left the building to demonstrators’ shouts of ‘save us, Barnier’. Flags reading ‘No good Brexit’ and ‘Bog off, Boris’ were waved whilst the crowd of around 80 protestors sang the EU’s unofficial anthem ‘Ode to Joy’.
The majority of the protestors were British expatriates who’d moved to Luxembourg for work purposes and who have the most to lose should Boris’s no-deal Brexit become a reality. An even larger protest by British expatriates awaited Johnson’s arrival for his meeting with Luxembourg PM Xavier Bettel, where a brief press statement was to be given from behind a metal gate just a few feet from the demonstrators. Shouts of ‘tell the truth – stop the coup’ suggested a far more raucous welcome for the UK’s unpopular PM.
Unsurprisingly, an EU spokesperson revealed the EU has still not been presented with any workable solutions to the issue of the Irish backstop. After the meeting with Bettel, Johnson abruptly cancelled the expected press conference, whilst the larger protest chanted ‘bollocks to Brexit’ and several other relevant comments. The PM scuttled past the two lecterns and departed, leaving Bettel to pacify the assembled press. Finally, chief representative for Brexit to the EU parliament Guy Verhofstadt ridiculed Johnson on Twitter, posting a shot of the two lecterns, Bettel and one empty chair with the message ‘ From Incredible Hulk to Incredible Sulk’.
The scene outside the meeting quickly turned to chaos as the assembled expatriate protestors booed the PM and shouted Brexit chants as he was driven away for his appointment with Luxembourg’s Prime Minister. Minutes later, chief negotiator Michel Barnier left the building to demonstrators’ shouts of ‘save us, Barnier’. Flags reading ‘No good Brexit’ and ‘Bog off, Boris’ were waved whilst the crowd of around 80 protestors sang the EU’s unofficial anthem ‘Ode to Joy’.
The majority of the protestors were British expatriates who’d moved to Luxembourg for work purposes and who have the most to lose should Boris’s no-deal Brexit become a reality. An even larger protest by British expatriates awaited Johnson’s arrival for his meeting with Luxembourg PM Xavier Bettel, where a brief press statement was to be given from behind a metal gate just a few feet from the demonstrators. Shouts of ‘tell the truth – stop the coup’ suggested a far more raucous welcome for the UK’s unpopular PM.
Unsurprisingly, an EU spokesperson revealed the EU has still not been presented with any workable solutions to the issue of the Irish backstop. After the meeting with Bettel, Johnson abruptly cancelled the expected press conference, whilst the larger protest chanted ‘bollocks to Brexit’ and several other relevant comments. The PM scuttled past the two lecterns and departed, leaving Bettel to pacify the assembled press. Finally, chief representative for Brexit to the EU parliament Guy Verhofstadt ridiculed Johnson on Twitter, posting a shot of the two lecterns, Bettel and one empty chair with the message ‘ From Incredible Hulk to Incredible Sulk’.
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