Michael Sercan Daventry
12 October 2015•Update: 14 October 2015
LONDON
British police personnel posted outside the Ecuadorian embassy for the last three years in central London to arrest Wikileaks founder Julian Assange have been withdrawn, it was announced Monday.
The Metropolitan Police Service said that its operation was “no longer proportionate to commit officers to a permanent presence” outside the Ecuadorian embassy, citing rising costs and lack of an imminent resolution to the stand-off with Assange.
Assange, 44, has been in diplomatic limbo since Ecuador granted him political asylum in June 2012 after Sweden sought his extradition from Britain on sexual offence charges.
U.K. police is prevented under diplomatic rules from entering the Ecuadorian embassy, where Assange fled, to arrest him. It stationed officers and heat-detecting devices outside the building to arrest him in an operation costing more than £11.1 million ($17 million) so far.
Police added that it would continue to make “every effort to arrest him” should Assange leave the embassy,
A statement continued: “Whilst no tactics guarantee success in the event of Julian Assange leaving the embassy, the MPS will deploy a number of overt and covert tactics to arrest him.
“A significant amount of time has passed since Julian Assange entered the embassy, and despite the efforts of many people there is no imminent prospect of a diplomatic or legal resolution to this issue.
“The MPS 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,” the statement added.
Britain’s Foreign Office said that it had summoned the Ecuadorian ambassador to London on Monday morning to protest its inability to carry out its legal obligation to Sweden.
A number of sexual offense charges against Assange in Sweden have been dropped, but he still remains wanted on an allegation of rape.
