Madrid:
More than 100 demonstrators gathered outside the British Embassy in Spain's capital Madrid late on Saturday to protest the detention of the founder of secret-spilling website WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and the closure of its Swiss bank account.
The Spanish-language website Free WikiLeaks had said protests were due to be held in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville and three other Spanish cities.
Protesters held placards reading "Free Julian Assange" and "Truth Now," and chanted the slogans "freedom of speech" and "free Assange"
The website also said demonstrations were planned Saturday in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and in the capital cities of Colombia, Argentina, Mexico and Peru, as well as in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Assange remains in a British jail awaiting a hearing on December 14 at which he plans to fight Sweden's request to extradite him to face sex crimes allegations there.
One of his lawyers, Mark Stephens, denied media reports that Assange was being held in isolation at Wandsworth Prison in London.
Stephens said lawyers met with Assange at the prison for an hour on Thursday to prepare for next week's hearing.
Many US-based internet companies have cut their ties to WikiLeaks, including MasterCard Inc., Visa Inc., Amazon.com, PayPal Inc. and EveryDNS.
Those moves have hurt WikiLeaks' ability to accept donations and support publishing efforts.
The Spanish-language website Free WikiLeaks had said protests were due to be held in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville and three other Spanish cities.
Protesters held placards reading "Free Julian Assange" and "Truth Now," and chanted the slogans "freedom of speech" and "free Assange"
The website also said demonstrations were planned Saturday in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and in the capital cities of Colombia, Argentina, Mexico and Peru, as well as in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Assange remains in a British jail awaiting a hearing on December 14 at which he plans to fight Sweden's request to extradite him to face sex crimes allegations there.
One of his lawyers, Mark Stephens, denied media reports that Assange was being held in isolation at Wandsworth Prison in London.
Stephens said lawyers met with Assange at the prison for an hour on Thursday to prepare for next week's hearing.
Many US-based internet companies have cut their ties to WikiLeaks, including MasterCard Inc., Visa Inc., Amazon.com, PayPal Inc. and EveryDNS.
Those moves have hurt WikiLeaks' ability to accept donations and support publishing efforts.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
