Julian Assange: Supporters to stage Night Carnival in campaign of Wikileaks founder’s release

Campaigners pressing for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will stage a demonstration in London this weekend.

The so-called Night Carnival will take place on Saturday and will include a march to Parliament Square followed by a rally.

Speakers will include Assange’s wife Stella, human rights campaigner Richard Ratcliffe, Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn and the editor in chief of WikiLeaks, Kristinn Hrafnsson.

The carnival will be led by a giant puppet of Lady Justice, and will feature street performers, sound systems and bands.

Attendees are encouraged to come in their own costumes and to bring torches, lanterns, glow lights, masks, whistles, glow lights and face paint.

Assange is being held in London’s Belmarsh Prison as he continues to mount a legal challenge to being extradited to the United States.

He faces a 175-year sentence if he is extradited.

Major free speech and human rights organisations oppose his extradition which they say is a “threat to press freedom around the globe”.

Amnesty International said: “Were Julian Assange to be extradited or subjected to any other transfer to the USA, Britain would be in breach of its obligations under international human rights law.”

Amnesty International’s Europe director, Nils Muiznieks, said: “President Biden should take the opportunity to drop these politically motivated charges which have put media freedom and freedom of expression in the dock.

“President Obama opened the investigation into Julian Assange.

“President Trump brought charges against him.

“It is now time for President Biden to do the right thing and help end this farcical prosecution which should never have been brought in the first place.”

Assange faces extradition for his publication of disclosed documents as part of his work with Wikileaks.

He was dragged out of the Ecuador Embassy in London in 2019 after spending years inside the building to avoid extradition, and has since been held in Belmarsh Prison.

Attendees will meet at Lincoln’s Inn Fields (nearest tube Holborn) at 4pm on Saturday February 11 and march to Parliament Square.

The event will finish with a rally in the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster.