Assange stakeout costs Londoners $9 mn — RT News

Assange stakeout costs Londoners $9 mn — RT News:

 Guarding the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where Julian Assange has sought political asylum, has cost the Metropolitan Police £5.3 million ($9 million), officers have had the place staked out around the clock since June 2012.

A freedom of information request by the British media to London’s Metropolitan Police estimates the cost of policing the Ecuadorian embassy between June 2012 and December 2013 at £5.3 million, including £4.4 million ($7.3 million) going on police pay, while £900,000 ($1.5 million) was spent paying officers overtime.

The cost to the London taxpayer is just under £10,000 ($17,000) a day. At any time of the day or night, there are three officers stationed outside the embassy, ready to arrest Assange if he tries to make a run for it – or pops out for a pint of milk.

 

Julian Assange.(AFP Photo / Anthony Devlin)