Wikileaks announced on twitter that a force of “heavily armed police” had appeared outside of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where founder Julian Assange has been holed up since 2012.
PHOTO: Heavily armed ‘police’ appear outside Ecuadorian Embassy in London where Julian Assange has political asylum (photo, Tuesday morning) pic.twitter.com/EOfsrmi3t2
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 21, 2016
The “police” presence appeared earlier in the week just as Wikileaks confirmed that Ecuador had agreed to cut Julian Assange’s internet access after a some political pressure from John Kerry.
BREAKING: Multiple US sources tell us John Kerry asked Ecuador to stop Assange from publishing Clinton docs during FARC peace negotiations.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 18, 2016
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We can confirm Ecuador cut off Assange’s internet access Saturday, 5pm GMT, shortly after publication of Clinton’s Goldman Sachs speechs.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 17, 2016
With some of his supporters questioning whether the journalist was still alive, just after 5pm Eastern time on Friday Wikileaks tweeted that was still alive and asked supporters to stop taking down the US internet.
Mr. Assange is still alive and WikiLeaks is still publishing. We ask supporters to stop taking down the US internet. You proved your point. pic.twitter.com/XVch196xyL
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 21, 2016
The tweet followed a series of cyber attacks that had caused widespread internet disruption on both sides of the Atlantic
The account followed with another tweet that said the Obama administration should not have attempted to misuse its instruments of state to stop criticism Hillary Clinton.
The Obama administration should not have attempted to misuse its instruments of state to stop criticism of its ruling party candidate.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 21, 2016
Inquisitr reports:
The organization says that Ecuador was told to silence Assange by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. However, the State Department has denied these claims, noting that they had nothing to do with the sudden termination of Assange’s internet connection.
The Ecuadorian government says that they are still protecting Assange, but they cut his internet access over fears that his document releases were impacting the American election. Ecuador says they have a non-intervention policy when it comes to other country’s elections, and they decided to temporarily cut some access to the internet. However, as NBC News reports, the United States might have actively urged Ecuador to cut Assange’s access by making claims that Russia was working through Assange in a bid to influence the American elections. It should also be mentioned that the leader of Ecuador publicly stated he wanted Clinton to win the election, which certainly casts a shadow of doubt on their non-intervention claims.
“Quiet pressure from the U.S. government played a role in Ecuador’s decision to block WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from using the internet at Ecuador’s London embassy, U.S. officials told NBC News. ‘It was a bit of an eviction notice,’ said a senior intelligence official.”
With the move being noted as a “bit of an eviction notice,” many Wikileaks followers have expressed concern over what will happen to Assange should Ecuador no longer offer him political asylum. Therefore, when Wikileaks posted that heavily armed police had arrived outside the embassy, followers quickly began questioning if the Wikileaks founder had been killed.
Wikileaks notes that the armed guards were pictured on Tuesday but has not provided any further updates
