“Julian Assange, 47, has today, Thursday 11 April, been arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) at the Embassy of Ecuador,” police said.

Police said they arrested Assange after being “invited into the embassy by the Ambassador, following the Ecuadorean government’s withdrawal of asylum.”

Police said they arrested Assange after being “invited into the embassy by the Ambassador, following the Ecuadorean government’s withdrawal of asylum.”

British police have arrested Julian Assange after Ecuador withdrew his asylum status. The arrest was made at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder has been claiming asylum since 2012. Assange was taken into custody at a central London police station, before he’s presented at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Assange’s future in the embassy was called into question last year after the president of Ecuador said he would “eventually” have to leave the property and revealed that he was in discussions with British authorities to end his asylum. Assange was also given a new set of house rules back in October, including orders to look after his cat and avoid political interference using the embassy’s Wi-Fi. These rules followed Assange appointing Kristinn Hrafnsson to replace him as the WikiLeaks editor, following his prior lack of internet access.

In a video posted to Twitter, the president of Ecuador Lenín Moreno said that while the country respects the right of asylum, “the discourteous and aggressive behavior of Mr. Julian Assange, the hostile and threatening declarations of its allied organization, against Ecuador, and especially, the transgression of international treaties” mean that “the asylum of Mr. Assange is unsustainable and no longer viable.”