Police stop guarding embassy refuge of Julian Assange

Officers had been outside the embassy since Mr Assange sought asylum there to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations which he denies.

The estimated cost of the police presence is more than £12m.

£12m is a ridiculous amount of money to be spending on watching someone because of an Extradition agreement. How long until he legs it?

Be very silly for a Country to go into another Country's embassy and kidnap someone....Very silly.......

The Ecuadorian embassy is Ecuadorian land........

My guess is he won't need the security...Cause an international incident If anything happened....and If Russia want to nip into the US embassy after... what can we say...

Do you think that someone would've busted in to get him out, Truss?

That complete tool Hague was talked about going in......Until he realised the political implications...

No one will go in..............

I was under the impression it was to stop him escaping.

Met Police

"The Metropolitan Police Service has to balance the interests of justice in this case with the ongoing risks to the safety of Londoners and all those we protect, investigating crime and arresting offenders wanted for serious offences, in deciding what a proportionate response is," it added.

However the force also said it would be deploying "a number of overt and covert tactics to arrest him".

He knows as soon as he sets foot outside the building he takes a trip to the US via Sweden...

Problem is it's not much of a life for him inside the building...

Don't think he fancies his chances getting to Russia?

Just get into a cab and go to the airport..

He looks as if he could do with some vitamin D

He's a muppet. But there's a statute of limitations, of sorts, on his purported crimes anyway so what's the point.

Did laugh at all the pathetic celebreties that backed him and funded his bail only for them to lose all their money when inevitably lost and breached his bail terms when refusing to accept the decision of a Court system he'd only be lavishing praise on a few days earlier. Pr!ck.

You are a bitter man...

Because I'm not defending an accused r***ist? Or because I'm mocking the naivety of following (and funding) a celebrity cause in order to look popular/cool only to lose all your cash when it inevitably goes wrong because you didn't understand what you were doing?

But do go on, tell me why the accused r***ist that refuses to respect the decisions of Court is such a lovely humble man we should all be concerned about......

Here is me thinking you were innocent until proven guilty..

Which is why I used the words 'purported' and 'accused'.

Alistair wrote:I was under the impression it was to stop him escaping.

Met Police

"The Metropolitan Police Service has to balance the interests of justice in this case with the ongoing risks to the safety of Londoners and all those we protect, investigating crime and arresting offenders wanted for serious offences, in deciding what a proportionate response is," it added.

However the force also said it would be deploying "a number of overt and covert tactics to arrest him".

12 million is a lot of money......Especially with the cut backs......

Right decision....Like I say he'll be safe enough inside...........But sooner or later he'll want a life outside the embassy.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:

Alistair wrote:I was under the impression it was to stop him escaping.

Met Police

"The Metropolitan Police Service has to balance the interests of justice in this case with the ongoing risks to the safety of Londoners and all those we protect, investigating crime and arresting offenders wanted for serious offences, in deciding what a proportionate response is," it added.

However the force also said it would be deploying "a number of overt and covert tactics to arrest him".

12 million is a lot of money......Especially with the cut backs......

Right decision....Like I say he'll be safe enough inside...........But sooner or later he'll want a life outside the embassy.

Nothing about him being safe. As Alistair has said it was to stop him escaping.

trottb wrote:

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:

Alistair wrote:I was under the impression it was to stop him escaping.

Met Police

"The Metropolitan Police Service has to balance the interests of justice in this case with the ongoing risks to the safety of Londoners and all those we protect, investigating crime and arresting offenders wanted for serious offences, in deciding what a proportionate response is," it added.

However the force also said it would be deploying "a number of overt and covert tactics to arrest him".

12 million is a lot of money......Especially with the cut backs......

Right decision....Like I say he'll be safe enough inside...........But sooner or later he'll want a life outside the embassy.

Nothing about him being safe. As Alistair has said it was to stop him escaping.

That was kinda my point, we've spent £12m on making sure he doesn't escape, just so we adhere to an extradition pact.

Yeah I agree. It's a ridiculous waste of money and all to prove a point over Wikileaks.

I quite admire anybody who publishes the truth.   Wikileaks only told the world what was being done by our government, in our name and with our tax money.   I figure I have a right to know these things and if it takes a whistleblower to reveal them, then I'm on the side of the whistleblower.

I sometimes think when we're then told "He put the lives of operatives at risk" or "He endangered national security" then there's a fair amount of BS being spread around.   Being an "operative" of any stripe is inherently risky in the first place and our national security is made much less safe every time we drop a bomb on Syria and motivate enraged, hot headed young men to join radical groups.

Will he get away?  I don't know.  If he ever finds himself in the hands of the Americans he'll wish he'd never been born.  I hope he gets away.  Men like him and Edward Snowdon have done nothing more than expose the truth of what our governments are doing to the cold, hard light of day and if telling the truth is a crime, then God help us all.