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Ecuador has expressed outrage at the British government’s suggestion, later withdrawn, that police could enter the country’s London embassy, where Assange has taken refuge, to seize him.
“We’re here to support the timely and correct decision to grant asylum to Julian Assange and also to reject the hostile reaction of Great Britain in cahoots with United States,” Betty Wanda, a 28-year-old lawyer among a crowd outside the presidential palace in Quito, said on Monday.
Many at the rally on Monday wore multi-colour bandannas with images of Assange and the message: “Without real freedom of expression, there will not be sovereignty”.
“I back the president 100 per cent because I believe that there’s freedom of expression in Ecuador. But there must also be freedom of expression at the international level and a journalist that has had as much significance as Assange must not be censored,” Christian Cuchi (27), said.
There have been small protests outside the British embassy in Quito, and graffiti has sprung up showing support for Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa.
Assange was meant to be extradited to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault accusations, but jumped his bail and fled to the embassy on 19 June, saying he feared the extradition was the first step in a process that would see him face an unfair espionage prosecution in the US.
Britain has pledged not to let Assange leave the country and has stationed police both outside and inside the Knightsbridge neighbourhood building that houses the embassy’s offices.
There is also a wider power game at play between Ecuador and fellow leftwing Latin American governments on one side and the US and UK on the other. A conference of South American foreign ministers on Sunday expressed public support for Ecuador’s stance.
Correa has backed Assange’s claim that he is at risk of being sent to the US for punishment over WikiLeaks’ 2010 release of a deluge of secret US diplomatic cables and army documents.
In a speech from the embassy’s balcony on Sunday, Assange called on the US to end what he described as a “witch-hunt” against him and thanked Correa for the “courage he has shown”.
Correa is already very popular and appears to be drawing more support with his stance on Assange.
He has portrayed the standoff with London as a principled struggle between a small nation against a “colonial power”.
The 49-year-old Correa, in power since 2007 and widely praised for high spending on roads, hospitals and schools, is expected to run for re-election in February 2013.
Ecuador has said it may take the case to the International Court of Justice but would first try to convince Britain to allow Assange to leave or give him guarantees that he would not be extradited to the US.
“We’re states with responsible governments that can negotiate directly about this problem. We have always been open to negotiations with the British and Swedish governments,” Correa told state-run television on Monday night. — AP.
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