Vivienne Westwood holds pro-Assange protest inside GIANT BIRDCAGE outside the Old Bailey (VIDEOS)

Vivienne Westwood has staged a dramatic protest outside the Old Bailey in London: she was suspended 10ft in the air inside a giant birdcage, all to highlight the plight of ‘canary in the coal mine’: Julian Assange.

Dame Westwood, 79, staged the protest with the help of her son, Joe Corre, to refocus attention on the ongoing threat to press freedoms, and the dangerous precedent that would be set were WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange to be extradited to the US.

Assange, 48, is still being held in London’s maximum-security Belmarsh Prison, where he awaits the continuation of his trial. It will decide whether or not the UK will extradite him to the US, where he faces 17 charges under the Espionage Act and a possible 175 years in prison, if convicted.

“I am Julian Assange. I am the canary in the cage. If I die down the coal mine from poisonous gas, that’s the signal for all the miners to leave,” Westwood proclaimed via loudspeaker from her giant cage on Tuesday morning. 

“But I am half poisoned already from government corruption and gaming of the system and legal system by governments. I am still whistling away, but seven billion people don’t know what the f**k is going on.”

The courts have rescheduled Assange’s extradition hearing, which was due to take place on May 18, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It has now been rescheduled for September 7. 

“This could happen to every journalist, because it is not a crime to publish the truth,” Westwood concluded.

Many online digitally applauded Westwood’s efforts at drawing attention to the case once more, amid a backdrop of social justice causes dominating the headlines in the mainstream media.

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