Julian Assange arrested after he’s evicted from embassy
LONDON — London police say they’ve arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy kicking and screaming Thursday as British police arrested him on a court warrant dating back to 2012.
“Julian Assange, 47, has today, Thursday 11 April, been arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) at the Embassy of Ecuador,” police said in a statement.
Dramatic video shows several officers pulling Assange out of the building, as he yells,” “The UK has no stability!”
Assange — sporting an overgrown gray beard — was busted after police were “invited into the embassy by the Ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government’s withdrawal of asylum,” authorities said.
Assange was taken into custody at a central London police station, where he will remain before facing prosecution before Westminister Magistrates’ Court as soon as possible, police said.
In a tweet, Wikileaks said, “Ecuador has illegally terminated Assange political asylum in violation of international law. He was arrested by the British police inside the Ecuadorian embassy minutes ago.”
Assange had been holed up in the building since 2012, when he applied for asylum there to avoid being extradited to Sweden to face sexual assault charges. Assange has maintained his innocence in the Swedish case.
Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, claimed Wednesday that his organization has uncovered a “Truman-show-like” spying operation against Julian Assange within embassy.
Hrafnsson said photos, documents video and audio recordings chronicling Assange’s every step in the embassy were recently sent to WikiLeaks by “Spanish individuals.”
Assange had been holed up in the building since 2012, for fear that he’d be busted and extradited to the US for publishing classified documents through Wikileaks, which he founded.