Assange talks to students

The founder of WikiLeaks website Julian Assange. Photo / AP

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared at the Cambridge Union Society amid tight security.

Student journalists from the university's two papers were permitted to attend. But national media were told they were barred from the lecture, which was both a defence of WikiLeaks and a detailed account of what Assange claimed was his organisation's crucial role in sparking pro-democracy protests in the Middle East.

Referring to the fruit-seller from Tunisia who set himself alight in protest at government corruption, Assange said: "His act took what was an online [campaign] about what was happening in Tunisia and expressed it in physical form. The cables showed the US would support the military over the Tunisian regime. This changed the dynamic between reformists and regimists."