16-08-2012, 06:50 AM
8.46am: Wikileaks has just tweeted that diplomatic police have just arrived at the Ecuadorian embassy. You can watch a live video stream here.
Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said Britain had earlier in the day issued "a written threat that it could assault our embassy" if Assange is not handed over. After Patino's brief appearance before reporters, Britain's Foreign Office issued a statement citing a 1987 British law it says permits the revocation of diplomatic status of a building if the foreign power occupying it "ceases to use land for the purposes of its mission or exclusively for the purposes of a consular post."
Patino said Ecuador "rejects in the most energetic terms the explicit threat of the official British communication."
The Foreign Office statement did not elaborate on Britain's intentions if Assange were to be granted political asylum by Ecuador whose president, Rafael Correa, has expressed sympathy for the Wikileaks founder.
"We have an obligation to extradite Mr. Assange and it is only right that we give Ecuador (the) full picture," the statement said, before adding: "We are still committed to reaching a mutually acceptable solution."
Under international law, diplomatic posts are considered the territory of the foreign nation.
8.40am: There have been protests in both Ecuador and the UK, over the UK's "threat" to the Ecuadorian embassy over Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. In Quito, about 30 people yelling "England, what part don't you understand, we are sovereign!" protested outside the British Embassy, and briefly trampled a British flag.
In London, a small group of Assange supporters were gathered outside the Ecuadorean embassy late Wednesday, according to live footage broadcast by a citizen journalist on the scene. The embassy was dark, although occasionally the curtains appeared to move.
British officials have vowed not grant Assange safe passage out of their country if Ecuador grants asylum. They say they will arrest him the moment he steps foot outside the embassy.
But they had not publicly suggested they might strip the embassy of its diplomatic inviolability.
However a British Foreign Office spokesperson says, "Under British law we can give them a week's notice before entering the premises and the embassy will no longer have diplomatic protection. But that decision has not yet been taken. We are not going to do this overnight. We want to stress that we want a diplomatically agreeable solution."
8.30am: The Ecuadorean government will announce its decision on Julian Assange's appeal for political asylum at 10 o'clock tonight, Eastern Australian time.
However, contrary to media and Twitter speculation, British police have not raided Ecuador's London embassy to arrest Assange to facilitate his extradition to Sweden.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-...z23ftdG1Sb
8.10am: Wikileaks has just released a press release on the Ecuador and Assange situation, condemning the situation and calling it an attempt to "bully Ecuador into a decision that is agreeable to the United Kingdom and its allies."
The statement added that "a threat of this nature is a hostile and extreme act, which is not proportionate to the circumstances, and an unprecedented assault on the rights of asylum seekers worldwide."
Reiterating that Assange had not been charged with any crime in any country, and called for the immediate resignation of UK Secretary of state William Hague, who is believed to have taken this decision in the absence of Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said Britain had earlier in the day issued "a written threat that it could assault our embassy" if Assange is not handed over. After Patino's brief appearance before reporters, Britain's Foreign Office issued a statement citing a 1987 British law it says permits the revocation of diplomatic status of a building if the foreign power occupying it "ceases to use land for the purposes of its mission or exclusively for the purposes of a consular post."
Patino said Ecuador "rejects in the most energetic terms the explicit threat of the official British communication."
The Foreign Office statement did not elaborate on Britain's intentions if Assange were to be granted political asylum by Ecuador whose president, Rafael Correa, has expressed sympathy for the Wikileaks founder.
"We have an obligation to extradite Mr. Assange and it is only right that we give Ecuador (the) full picture," the statement said, before adding: "We are still committed to reaching a mutually acceptable solution."
Under international law, diplomatic posts are considered the territory of the foreign nation.
8.40am: There have been protests in both Ecuador and the UK, over the UK's "threat" to the Ecuadorian embassy over Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. In Quito, about 30 people yelling "England, what part don't you understand, we are sovereign!" protested outside the British Embassy, and briefly trampled a British flag.
In London, a small group of Assange supporters were gathered outside the Ecuadorean embassy late Wednesday, according to live footage broadcast by a citizen journalist on the scene. The embassy was dark, although occasionally the curtains appeared to move.
British officials have vowed not grant Assange safe passage out of their country if Ecuador grants asylum. They say they will arrest him the moment he steps foot outside the embassy.
But they had not publicly suggested they might strip the embassy of its diplomatic inviolability.
However a British Foreign Office spokesperson says, "Under British law we can give them a week's notice before entering the premises and the embassy will no longer have diplomatic protection. But that decision has not yet been taken. We are not going to do this overnight. We want to stress that we want a diplomatically agreeable solution."
8.30am: The Ecuadorean government will announce its decision on Julian Assange's appeal for political asylum at 10 o'clock tonight, Eastern Australian time.
However, contrary to media and Twitter speculation, British police have not raided Ecuador's London embassy to arrest Assange to facilitate his extradition to Sweden.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-...z23ftdG1Sb
8.10am: Wikileaks has just released a press release on the Ecuador and Assange situation, condemning the situation and calling it an attempt to "bully Ecuador into a decision that is agreeable to the United Kingdom and its allies."
The statement added that "a threat of this nature is a hostile and extreme act, which is not proportionate to the circumstances, and an unprecedented assault on the rights of asylum seekers worldwide."
Reiterating that Assange had not been charged with any crime in any country, and called for the immediate resignation of UK Secretary of state William Hague, who is believed to have taken this decision in the absence of Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass