Occupy London divided over Assange

The Guardian reports that Occupy London, which  remains an activist group despite having been cleared from its encampment outside St. Paul’s cathedral, is divided over whether to support Julian Assange in the stand-off at the Ecuadorean embassy:

"Occupy London has still not come to a collective decision about the Assange issue. Some object to his extradition to Sweden, some don’t," tweeted Occupy London’s Twitter account, which has been attempting to rally support for Assange. Activists have stood with placards outside the embassy and live-streamed coverage of events on the internet.[…]

"Unbelievable that a crowd turned up to SUPPORT #assange. Very sad sight and a shame that these rape apologists have poisoned #occupy london" said one Twitter user .[…]

Naomi Colvin, a London-based writer and activist who has acted as a spokeswoman for Occupy, said she believed the global movement would never have happened without the whistleblowing website.

"The energy that Wikileaks produced and sense of purpose was certainly responsible in a large part for Occupy and a lot of people around the world realising themselves politically and that certainly happened to me" said Colvin, who said she was speaking in an individual capacity.

The Guardian also ran through four scenarios for how Assange might be able to leave the country without permission of the British government, none of them very promising.