Free Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning - protest in Wellington on Sunday

The Socialist Equality Group is hosting a protest rally in Cuba Street, Wellington (at the intersection with Left Bank) on Sunday 14 July at 2:30pm to oppose the persecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, and to demand their immediate release from prisons in Britain and the US.

Assange and Manning have committed no crimes. They are class war prisoners, jailed for revealing massive crimes carried out by the American ruling class and its military in Iraq and Afghanistan. Assange's illegal arrest from the Ecuadorian Embassy, his imprisonment and threatened rendition to the US to face "espionage" charges sets a precedent for similar police-state measures and show trials to be used in any part of the world, including Australia and New Zealand, against journalists, whistleblowers, opponents of war, and socialists.

The Socialist Equality Group's protest is part of the political fight being waged by the World Socialist Web Site and the International Committee of the Fourth International to mobilise support among workers, students and all defenders of democratic rights, to free Assange and Manning.

A mass movement must be built to defend free speech and oppose censorship and attacks on journalists and whistleblowers who expose government and corporate criminality. This is an essential part of the fight against war, and for socialism and internationalism.

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