PM Johnson rejects calls for no-deal Brexit in election pitch - Reuters

LONDON/SWINDON, England (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson drew an angry backlash from Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage on Saturday after he rejected calls to drop his Brexit deal and embrace a clean break from the European Union, potentially splitting the eurosceptic vote.

Johnson had previously pledged to take Britain out of the EU with or without a deal on Oct. 31, before lawmakers voted to force him to seek an extension until Jan. 31.

But he has abandoned the threat of a no-deal Brexit in his Conservative Party’s manifesto for the Dec. 12 election, the Times newspaper reported on Saturday. It added that the focus would be on getting his Brexit deal approved.

On Friday, Johnson rejected a call from the Brexit Party to drop the deal he negotiated with the European Union last month in order to form a new electoral pact, saying that he could put his deal through parliament after any election win.

“What we’ve got is a fantastic deal that nobody thought we could get,” Johnson said. “As soon as we get back in the middle of December, we can put that deal through.”

In Britain’s tortuous journey since the 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU, businesses and economists have cautioned that leaving the bloc without a deal to smooth the transition would hurt the British economy.

Proponents of a no-deal Brexit say it provides a clean break from EU rules and regulations.

“If The Times are right and Boris Johnson will abandon a clean break Brexit, and he wins an election on this, we will never be free of EU rules,” Brexit Party Leader Nigel Farage said in a tweet.

“The deal is simply not Brexit and does not get Brexit done.”

“SO BAD” FOR BRITAIN

The Conservative manifesto will also not include a commitment to a fiscal rule, the Times reported, relaxing the government’s grip on public finances. The party did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The government’s previous fiscal rule pledged to hold the underlying budget deficit below 2% of the country’s economic output in the 2020/21 financial year.

The leaders of the opposition Labour, Liberal Democrat and Scottish Nationalist parties addressed supporters separately across Britain on Saturday, exhorting them to brave the weather to campaign in the country’s first December election since 1923, called to break the impasse over Brexit.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn would be “so bad” for Britain in an interview with Farage on Thursday.

On Saturday, Corbyn warned of the dangers of a trade deal with the United States, saying it threatened Britain’s public National Health Service, a claim Johnson and Trump both deny.

“The reality of no-deal is (heading) straight into the arms of Donald Trump. Straight into the arms of a free trade deal with the USA... and their desire to take over our public services,” Corbyn said at a rally in Swindon, 70 miles west of London.

“We will not go down that path under any circumstances. Our public services, our national health service is not for sale, to Donald Trump or anybody else.”

Both major parties face battles on at least three fronts: Against each other, with the hardline Brexit Party, and with the Liberal Democrats who aim to win over those opposed to Brexit altogether.

Opinion polls give Johnson a sizeable lead over Labour, but also suggest that more than 10% of voters back the Brexit Party - enough to split the pro-Brexit vote in some seats and hand victory to Labour.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits Metropolitan Police training college in Hendon, London, Britain October 31, 2019. Aaron Chown/Pool via REUTERS

The Scottish National Party (SNP) are also looking to wipe away Conservative gains made in 2017 as they push for another referendum on Scottish independence.

Addressing a pro-independence rally in Glasgow, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said independence was within touching distance.

“It is time for Scotland to choose our own future, it is time for Scotland to be an independent country,” she said.

Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Frances Kerry and Hugh Lawson

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Iraqi security forces kill one anti-government protester, wound at least 200 more - Fox News

Iraqi security forces killed at least one anti-government protester Saturday and wounded at least 200 more in the capital Baghdad and in the south of the country, police officials said.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been protesting over the past month, demanding a sweeping overhaul to the country's political system due to deteriorating living conditions, high unemployment, and corruption.

In Baghdad, security forces fired tear gas at protesters who tried to cross to bridges over the Tigris River leading to the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the Iraqi government and foreign embassies. “Down with the government, down with the regime and down with corrupt parties,” some of the protesters chanted.

Anti-government protesters close downtown a street in Baghdad Wednesday.

On Oct. 29, masked security forces killed eighteen people when they opened fire on protesters in the Shiite holy city of Karbala.

LEBANON PARALYZED BY NATIONWIDE PROTESTS OVER PROPOSED TAXES

In total, 250 have died as a result of the protests. As of Oct. 22, an Iraqi government committee revealed that security forces alone had killed 149 people by using excessive force. The report said that 70 percent of the deaths were caused by shots to the head or chest. It held senior commanders responsible but stopped short of blaming Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi or other top officials.

Iraqi security forces fire tear gas to disperse anti-government protesters during a demonstration in Baghdad last week. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

“The committee found that officers and commanders lost control over their forces during the protests [and this] caused chaos,” the panel said in its report. “There were no official orders from the supreme authorities to security forces to open fire toward protesters or use live ammunition at all.”

MASKED IRAQI SECURITY FORCES OPEN FIRE ON PROTESTERS, KILLING 18: REPORT

Mahdi established the committee to look into the bloodshed. He’s also promised a cabinet reshuffle and other reforms, but protesters say it is not enough.

Despite its vast oil wealth, Iraq suffers from high unemployment and crumbling infrastructure, with frequent power outages that force many to rely on private generators.

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The demonstrations have occurred in Shiite-majority areas and have been directed at the Shiite-dominated government and Shiite political parties and militias, many of which are supported by neighboring Iran. Iran also backs the government of Lebanon, which has seen similar protests. Lebanon has one of the largest national debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratios in the world, and also faces accusations of corruption. On Oct. 29 the Lebanese prime minister stepped down amidst the unrest.

An increasingly violent crackdown in Iraq has raised fears of a backlash by Iran and its heavily armed local allies.

Iraq's Foreign Ministry called on countries that issued statements urging Iraq's government to respect the will of Iraqis, saying those states "should respect Iraq's sovereignty and not interfere in Iraq's internal affairs."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Why is Iran so afraid of Iraqi and Lebanese anti-government protests? - NBCNews.com

They came dressed in black and wielding sticks.

Images emerged on social media of men widely believed to be supporters of powerful Lebanese militant group Hezbollah tearing through a camp of anti-government protesters in Beirut on Oct. 29, smashing chairs and setting fire to tents.

Meanwhile, the anti-corruption protesters regularly can be heard chanting slogans against Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Iran-backed militia and political party’s leader.

The tensions between Hezbollah and the largely leaderless anti-corruption protests sweeping Lebanon are a sign of the great unease that Iran and its proxies across the region are feeling at the upsurge of anti-government demonstrations.

Riot police try to stop Hezbollah supporters who arrived to burn and destroy tents in the protest camp set up by anti-government protesters, in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday. Hussein Malla / AP

After all, Tehran has worked for years to deepen its influence in these countries — and it’s precisely this domestic order that the demonstrators are looking to shake up, according to Neil Quilliam, an associate fellow at Chatham House, an international affairs think tank in London.

“The protests pose a threat to Iranian interests in Lebanon and Iraq because they are national in character and therefore challenge the current political order, which is shored up by groups supported and underpinned by Iran,” he said.

Iran has a lot to lose if its allies such as the politically powerful Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi's government and Iraq’s Shiite militias are shunted from power or see their influence diminish.

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In Iraq, after U.S. forces overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003, Shiite allies replaced the Baathist regime. And these are the people in power today and are currently the object of the protesters’ ire. Iran also supports Shiite armed groups in the oil-rich country, who are accused by protesters of building economic empires while many Iraqis struggle in poverty.

In Lebanon, the government is dominated by factions allied with Hezbollah which controls swathes of southern Lebanon where it has channeled the thoughts and desires of many poor Shiites, while fighting neighboring Israel.

And neither Hezbollah nor its ally Amal have escaped the protesters' wrath.

Even in the groups' heartland in the south, people have begun to call them out , setting their sights on Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the group’s leader.

For its part, Iran is blaming the West for fomenting unrest.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused foreign government of meddling in Iraq and Lebanon, and on Wednesday accused “U.S. and western intelligence services, with the financial backing of evil countries” of “fanning the flames of chaos.”

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right.Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader / AP

Khamenei’s Iran is up against Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia — a U.S. ally. Under President Donald Trump, America withdrew from a landmark nuclear agreement with Iran and reimposed punishing sanctions on Tehran.

All this makes the protests especially tricky for Tehran to handle.

“Iran is trying to keep its distance from the spiraling tensions and turmoil in both countries but its ability to do so is limited because its local allies, the armed groups, are targeted by the protesters,” said Fawaz Gerges, a professor of Middle Eastern politics at the London School of Economics.

Iran’s perceived meddling has fed the anti-government and anti-corruption anger among protesters. In Iraq, in particular, “they don’t like the fact that Iran can potentially interfere in their international affairs,” said Clément Therme a research fellow at Sciences Po, a political science institute in Paris.

In Iraq, deadly protests have often been accompanied by anti-Iran chants, such as “Iran out, out! Iraq will remain free.”

Iraqi anti-government protesters burn the Iranian flag during a demonstration in Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday. Hadi Mizban / AP

In Baghdad last week, protesters were pictured burning an Iranian flag.

Some protesters have accused Iran or its proxies of being behind a violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators in the Shiite holy city of Karbala this week, where at least 14 protesters were reported killed and more than 100 injured, according to Amnesty International. The government maintains that one person was killed, and denies involvement in the violence.

Suspicion of meddling by Iran, as well as the U.S., was prevalent among protesters, including Mohammaed Radhi, who owns an electronics shop in Baghdad.

“They’re working to make Iraq part of Iran,” he said. “They partially succeeded in achieving this through forming all those militias who are in fact controlling the country.”

Saphora Smith

Saphora Smith is a London-based reporter for NBC News Digital. 

Associated Press and Reuters contributed.

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