WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London and arrested by British police Thursday morning.
“Assange did not leave of his own free will and could be heard shouting ‘U.K. must resist, you can resist!’ as he was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy,” Gizmodo reported.
On Twitter, WikiLeaks wrote, “Julian Assange did not ‘walk out of the embassy.’ The Ecuadorian ambassador invited British police into the embassy and he was immediately arrested.”
Assange’s arrest was immediately condemned as a “direct attack on whistleblowers,” and it comes amid growing fears that the U.K. could extradite the Wikileaks founder to the United States.
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“It will be a sad day for democracy if the U.K. and Ecuadorian governments are willing to act as accomplices to the Trump administration’s determination to prosecute a publisher for publishing truthful information,” Assange’s legal team said in a statement last week.
DiEM25, a progressive European political organization founded by former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, called Assange’s arrest “an outrageous violation of human rights and a vicious attack on freedom of speech and whistleblowers.”
Journalist John Pilger added, “The action of the British police in literally dragging Julian Assange from the Ecuadorean embassy and the smashing of international law by the Ecuadorean regime in permitting this barbarity are crimes against the most basic natural justice. This is a warning to all journalists.”
In a statement, Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno said “Ecuador has sovereignly decided to terminate the diplomatic asylum granted to Mr. Assange in 2012.”
The Washington Post reported that Ecuador “said it was rescinding asylum because of his ‘discourteous and aggressive behavior’ and for violating the terms of his asylum.”
On Twitter, WikiLeaks accused Moreno of violating international law:
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