Julian Assange: police removed from outside Ecuadorian embassy

[lordsummerisle]

Scotland Yard has called off its multimillion pound 24-hour surveillance of the Ecuadorian embassy where Julian Assange has been living for 40 months, having decided the operation is “no longer proportionate”.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/12/julian-assange-police-removed-from-outside-ecuadorian-embassy

[niyad]

1. wow, and it has only cost the ratepayers some 12 million pounds. pretty expensive police.

[MADem]

2. Great neighborhood to live in--bet the streets felt quite safe even after the pubs called time!

But the operation has not been called off, so some say....it's just gone to "Subtle Mode?"

Kristinn Hrafnsson, a spokesman for WikiLeaks, said he did not know why the police had abandoned its 24-hour presence. “My interpretation is that it has not been lifted. They are calling off the uniformed presence but escalating the covert operation and will arrest him if he steps out off the embassy.”

A reduced police presence “does not fundamentally change the situation”. Hrafnsson speculated that the move might be a way of moving the costs of the uniformed presence, which infuriated the public, to the covert operation.

He added that the move comes ahead of an expected ruling by the UN working group on arbitrary detention, which he expected to find in favour of Assange.

In its statement, Scotland Yard said there was no “imminent prospect of a diplomatic or legal resolution to this issue”.

Either that, or the Ecuadorans have made a secret deal with UK to give 'em a call when he tips out the door...

[niyad]

3. the subtle thing was my first thought--plainclothes cops.

[backscatter712]

4. The kind of police resources normally only reserved for serial killers...

But last time I checked, Assange didn't kill anyone. And the charges Sweden claims on him are highly questionable and have already mostly fallen apart.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

5. .

https://m.