WikiLeaks stage protest outside British Embassy in Madrid

More than 100 demonstrators gathered outside the British Embassy in Madrid tonight to protest at the detention of the founder of the WikiLeaks website and the closing of the site's Swiss bank account.

The Spanish-language website Free WikiLeaks said protests were scheduled to be held in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville and at least three other Spanish cities.

Protesters held placards saying "Free Julian Assange" and "Truth Now", and chanted "freedom of speech".

The website also said demonstrations were planned in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and in the capital cities of Colombia, Argentina, Mexico and Peru, as well as in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

"We seek the liberation of Julian Assange in United Kingdom territory," the organisation said on the website. It urged protesters to gather in Spanish cities.

Assange remains in a British jail awaiting a hearing on Tuesday at which he plans to fight Sweden's request to extradite him to face sex crimes allegations there.

One of his lawyers denied reports that Assange was being held in isolation at Wandsworth Prison in London.

"He told me he had a single cell," Mark Stephens said. "He has the ability to watch TV with other prisoners - which he doesn't do because he hates daytime telly. He takes his meals with other prisoners."

Stephens said lawyers met with Assange at the prison for an hour on Thursday to prepare for next week's hearing.

The Free WikiLeaks website also calls for "the re-establishment of the WikiLeaks (wikileaks.org) Internet domain," and the restoration of Visa and MasterCard credit card services to enable the "freedom to move money" because no one has "proved Assange's guilt," or charged WikiLeaks with any crime.

Many US-based Internet companies have cut their ties to WikiLeaks, including MasterCard Inc., Visa Inc., Amazon.com, PayPal Inc. and EveryDNS. Those moves have hurt WikiLeaks' ability to accept donations and support publishing efforts.