Supporters Heat Up Protest At Ecuador Embassy In London Amid Assange's Looming Expulsion

LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th April, 2019) Supporters of Julian Assange intensified on Friday their protest efforts outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder is staying by right of asylum, due to the increasingly imminent threat of his expulsion from the diplomatic mission, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

On Thursday, WikiLeaks wrote on Twitter, citing a high-ranked Ecuadorian source, that Assange might be ousted from the embassy within "hours or days," adding that the Ecuadorian authorities might use a leak in the so-called INA Paper offshore scandal, involving Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno, as a pretext to expel Assange.

One of the protesters, Clara Campos, told Sputnik that the group of supporters were keeping guard in case Assange was kicked out of the embassy, as "there are rumors that Ecuador and the United States were preparing his expulsion."

Campos added that over a dozen of tv cameras were focused on the embassy's entrance, waiting to capture the moment of "Assange's execution."

Other protesters say that Assange was detained for publishing the truth and "irritating people in power.

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At the same time, none of the protesters think that Assange will be expelled in broad daylight in front of TV cameras on Friday. According to one of the demonstrators, there have previously been a number of false alarms.

Earlier this week, in an interview with a local broadcaster, Moreno accused Assange of violating the conditions of his asylum at the embassy. Specifically, the president argued that Assange could not meddle in politics of other states, particularly, Ecuador's partners.

Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in the United Kingdom since 2012. The activist has repeatedly said he fears extradition to the United States due to the fact that he has published thousands of leaked classified US authorities' documents. His defense team has cited media reports suggesting that Moreno had sought to reach an agreement with the United States on handing Assange over to Washington in exchange for "debt relief."