A major rally in London drew thousands of supporters of Julian Assange to form a human chain around the Houses of Parliament. Stella Assange (née Moris), the publisher’s wife, reports that 5,000 people participated in London at the event organized to call for his release from Belmarsh prison, where he is being held pending his presumed extradition to the United States. “Julian has enormous support and much more,” she said. “He has millions of people around the world who are disgusted by the injustice that is unfolding.”
Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the Labour Party, spoke at the event, saying “Julian Assange is a journalist who told the uncomfortable truth all around the world of what happened in Iraq, what happened in Afghanistan, what happened in Syria, Libya, environmental destruction, the power and interface of big business and arms companies with governments. That truth made a lot of very powerful people very uncomfortable, so the U.S. has tried to charge him under the Espionage Act. If we believe in free speech, if we believe in independent, democratic journalism, then Julian Assange should be freed from Belmarsh and not removed to the United States,” he said.
The mainstream British media ignored or underplayed the protests in London. Rallies in other cities, most notably Washington, also took place.
