UPDATE: Police have concluded the package is “non-suspicious”.
Police have responding to reports of a “small suspicious package” outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, currently home to Julian Assange.
The news comes just hours after the Wikileaks founder was told he still faces arrest if he leaves the building after a court ruled a warrant against him was still valid.
Assange has been hiding there from arrest since June 2012.
He had applied to have the warrant for skipping bail quashed, which would free him to leave the embassy.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court previously heard the 46-year-old was suffering from depression, a frozen shoulder and painful toothache after five and a half years without access to medical treatment.
He claimed being extradited to Sweden could see him removed to the US over WikiLeaks’ publication of war logs and diplomatic cables.
Julian Assange: How he ended up at Ecuadorian embassy
Assange was accused of rape and molestation by two women, who were unnamed WikiLeaks supporters, after a trip to Sweden in August 2010. Swedish prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest in November, after he had left the country.
In December, Assange was arrested in London and bailed. He spent the next 18 months fighting extradition through the courts.
In May 2012, he suffered his final defeat when the Supreme Court ruled he should be extradited. Three weeks later, he stunned the world when he walked into the embassy seeking asylum.
This was granted in August but he still faced arrest if he left the embassy.
In August 2015, the charges of molestation and unlawful coercion were discontinued as they were subject to five-year statutes of limitations under Swedish law.
Assange still faced the more serious allegation of rape, which is subject to a 10-year limit.
But in May 2017, Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny announced she was discontinuing this case as well.
“All possibilities to conduct the investigation are exhausted,” she said. “In order to proceed with the case, Julian Assange would have to be formally notified of the criminal suspicions against him.
“We cannot expect to receive assistance from Ecuador regarding this. Therefore the investigation is discontinued.”
Assange said he feared being sent to Sweden would mean a further extradition to the US to face charges over WikiLeaks’ leaking of military and diplomatic cables.