A US event on media freedom was interrupted today by protesters carrying signs and calling for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Assange is currently being held in London's Belmarsh prison and is fighting a US attempt to extradite him in order to have him tried on espionage charges.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was just about to answer a question on Evan Gershkobich, a Washington Post journalist who has been imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges.
"Excuse us," activist and CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin said after rushing onstage, "we can't use this day without calling for the freedom of Julian Assange. The Biden admin..."
The protest faded off as the broadcast's sound was cut. However, the sound quickly came back on to the sound of protesters yelling.
"Not one word about journalist Shireen Abu-Akleh, who was murdered by the Israeli occupation forces," one audience member yelled.
Abu-Akleh was a Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist who was fatally shot last year while covering a military raid in the occupied West Bank.
"Take is easy, take it easy, take it easy guys," Blinken told security guards as they pulled the protesters off the stage.
"We're here to celebrate freedom of expression, and we just experienced it," Washington Post journalist David Ignatius, the event's host said as the pair sat back down.
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