JULIAN ASSANGE, the WikiLeaks founder, was arrested on Thursday inside Ecuador's Embassy in London, where he had lived since 2012 under diplomatic protection. London's Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement its officers were "invited into the embassy by the Ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum."

Video of Assange being dragged from the embassy was captured on a livestream set up by Ruptly, a Russian government news agency.

Assange's lawyer, Jen Robinson, tweeted that he had been arrested not just for breach of bail conditions in the United Kingdom, but also in relation to an American extradition request. Apparently citing Assange himself as a source, the lawyer said the warrant was for allegedly conspiring with Chelsea Manning to leak documents in 2010.

A subsequent police statement confirmed that Assange was "further arrested on behalf of the United States authorities, at 10:53 hrs after his arrival at a central London police station. This is an extradition warrant under Section 73 of the Extradition Act."