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Assange Says Harrods Assisting Metro Police in 'Round-the-Clock Vigil'

Posted by timothy on from the now-it-costs-us-infinity-pounds dept.

The Daily Mail reports that Julian Assange seems to have yet another foe (or at least friend of a foe) watching persistently while he stays put in the Ecuadorean embassy in London: Harrod's Department Store. The Metro Police, according to Assange, have developed a relationship with the store, and are using that relationship to facilitate their full-time observation of his roosting place in the embassy. When the founder of Wikileaks says, "We have obtained documents from Harrods [saying that] police have people stationed 24 hours a day in some of the opposing buildings Harrods controls," it seems likely that those documents actually exist.

7 of 275 comments (clear)

  1. Not all that unusual... by jonwil · · Score: 4, Informative

    It may be unusual that its going on for such a long period of time but police (in the UK and elsewhere) regularly work with building owners to get access to vantage points overlooking suspect properties to observe what is going on.

  2. What is UNUSUAL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ..is the effort they spend for Jesus Assange. They must be really scared of the truth.

    1. Re:What is UNUSUAL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      girls?

      Two grown women who lied. and admitted that they lied.
      If I were one of their fathers, I'd be on Jule's side.

    2. Re:What is UNUSUAL by Calibax · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Both the women in question are adults and both have said that they do not wish Assange to be prosecuted. After the original complaint was filed, Assange was told he could leave Sweden, and so he went to the UK.

      Then a Swedish prosecutor decided to reopen the case (exactly why has never been fully explained) and she wants him back in Sweden. For some reason it wasn't sufficient to interview him by phone or Skype, or by traveling to the UK. The prosecutor wants him in Sweden, to the point of issuing a European arrest warrant - not because he's been charged with anything, just because she wants to talk to him.

      The whole thing seems quite strange. Sweden and the UK seem to be treating this as a major incident, even though the complainants have no interest in pursuing the case. In fact, the UK is complaining about the very high cost of watching the Ecuadorean embassy, which they reckon is over 15 million pounds so far.

    3. Re:What is UNUSUAL by BardBollocks · · Score: 4, Informative

      .. and have said they didn't want Julian charged with anything. .. and the prosecutor said the accusations brought forward by police were bogus and ended the investigation. .. and a crooked prosecutor with ties to US funded media in Sweden going for re-election in another part of Sweden reopened the case .. and Julian was interviewed and hung around, then asked if he was free to leave to attend another engagement and was told he could leave Sweden .. upon which an illegally issued European Arrest Warrant was placed on him .. which the U.K. courts have now said they will not in future accept because they are illegal, but won't apply it to Assange the government employed disinfo shills (how do you clowns sleep at night) will come and try and spin it - and will believe that the delusions they are suffering from are what the public believes...

  3. Re:Yes? And? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Except they aren't trying to get him there for a trial, they are trying to get him there for QUESTIONING, which they very easily could do over the phone, skype or send a person to him to question him, which they have done for others in the past. They just refuse to do it for him and insist he come where he can be arrested and sent elsewhere.

    How your post got modded as insightful when it isn't is pretty insightful in itself as to how misinformed people can be.

    And yes, they can agree not to extradite him to the US should they attempt to do so. Something they refused to do. The main thing Assange is guilty of at this point is pissing off the US leaders by airing their dirty laundry as even the girls he is accused of raping had dropped it and said they didn't want him charged and it seems very likely that they were trumped up charges just to get him there to begin with.

  4. Re:Yes? And? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Cold Fjord has attacked me! I declare him an enemy combatant. Can I murder him legally now?

    This is why I made the comment about the uniform. Your view worked very well in conventional wars of the past, when you knew who you were fighting. Modern wars are messy. Insurgent groups do not wear uniforms - they dress as civilians and disappear into the population. Even entire armies can be denied - look at Russia's recent invasion of Crimea, spearheaded by troops who wore uniforms without insignia and which Russia denies even exist.

    It's one thing to declare on the battlefield that anyone pointing a gun at you is probably the enemy and should be immediately shot. There isn't really any other option then. But it's another matter entirely to systematically disappear people into a secret prison and declare that they have no legal rights. If you resort to that, you'll be sure to catch a lot of innocent civilians who just had the misfortune to get caught up events.