UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s call for demonstrations at the Russian embassy in London over the war in Syria has been met with varying reactions on social media.
For many, the idea that a member of the UK government would call for a protest outside another nation’s embassy was surprising.
Others were quick to see the irony in the UK protesting conflict while supplying arms to warring countries.
Many more pointed to the UK’s close relationship with Saudi Arabia, which has been bombing Yemen since March 2015.
The UK has made over £3 billion ($3.6bn) in arms sales to Saudi Arabia since the war in Yemen began.
Johnson defended the UK’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia last month, stating, “the key test for our continued arms exports to Saudi Arabia in relation to international humanitarian law is whether those weapons might be used in a commission of a serious breach of international humanitarian law. Having regard to all the information available to us, we assess this test has not been met.”
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The Stop the War coalition, which Johnson targeted in his speech, responded to the new foreign secretary’s proposal, said it was “quite amazing” that Johnson was “taken seriously at all on issues of foreign policy.”
The group, which organized massive protests against the UK’s involvement in the Iraq war which Johnson voted for, said the “bloody history” of the war on terror was being “willfully ignored in efforts to push for more war.”
The UK’s reluctance to take in refugees was also highlighted.