Break-in Attempt Occurred at Assange’s Residence in London - Reports

Someone reportedly attempted to break into Julian Assange’s residence inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on October 29, a journalist connected to the Wikileaks founder claims, adding that he'd relayed to her that new surveillance devices had been installed to keep an eye on him.

On Sunday, Consortium News, citing a message provided by Assange's legal team to activist and journalist Suzie Dawson, reported that there had been a break-in attempt at the Ecuadorian Embassy. 

“There was an attempt to enter one of the front windows which has now being covered with scaffold at 4:31 am. The new scaffold obscures security cameras, but [Julian Assange] had booby-trapped the window with a fire-hydrant which was pushed over, waking him up,” the message read.

The scaffold has appeared against the diplomatic building in which Assange resides in Knightsbridge, a neighborhood of London; it “obscures the embassy’s security cameras,” the lawyers said, as cited by Consortium News.

There was no official confirmation of the reported incident, however.

READ MORE: Ecuadorian Embassy’s Rules for Assange Designed to Flush Him Out for US DOJ

The alleged break-in attempt happened on the same day that WikiLeaks' founder was due to testify in court in Ecuador regarding his conditions of asylum via teleconference. The testimony was interrupted by constant technical problems. The court ruled against his lawyer’s petition for protections for Assange.

Later on, the same day, Sean O’Brien, a lecturer at Yale University Law School and a cyber-security expert, observed and photographed the devices, which he could not identify, yet suspected to be tasked with surveillance. 

“I’ve never seen devices quite like this, and I take photos of surveillance equipment often,” O’Brien said. “There were curious plastic tubes with yellow-orange caps, zip-tied to the front.  I have no idea what these are but they seem to have equipment inside them.”

The alleged devices were pointed towards the embassy, O’Brien said. According to Dawson, the Ecuadorean government had to have given permission for the devices to be installed, as they are pointed towards the sovereign territory of a foreign government.

Last week, Julian Assange was quoted by Reuters as saying the Ecuadorian government is looking to revoke his asylum status after six years and turn him over to the US after American lawmakers urged Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno to turn Assange over to Washington as a “dangerous criminal and a threat to global security.” 

Earlier, in March 2108, the Ecuadorian government suspended Assange's web access after he breached a December 2017 written agreement to not interfere in political matters. Later, the access was partially restored, but Assange was ordered to pay most of his expenses, including Internet and laundry bills, clean up after his cat, and was reminded not to make public comments that could be seen as meddling in affairs of other countries or risk eviction. The WikiLeaks founder viewed it as a violation of his “fundamental rights and freedoms.”