Students protest at Assange speech

Published on 16/11/2012 01:41

A PLANNED speech by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is an “insult to survivors of rape”, according to a group of female students.

Mr Assange is to speak on a topic yet to be revealed, followed by a question-and-answer session, at the Cambridge Union Society debating platform on 27 November.

He will appear over videolink from the Ecuadorian embassy, where he is seeking asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Yesterday, the Cambridge University Students’ Union Women’s Campaign launched a petition and said it would oppose the visit.

It follows appearances last year by Mr Assange and in March by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was last year accused of sexually assaulting a New York hotel maid in a case that was later dropped.