Definition: In this task, you will be presented with a passage and have to answer a question based on your understanding of the events inferred from the passage. Try to find the best answer that is most likely to fill in "_". Note that the URLs in the text have been replaced with [Link].
Input: London (CNN) -- Julian Assange demanded that the United States drop its "witch hunt" against WikiLeaks on Sunday as he made his first public appearance after months effectively confined to the Embassy of Ecuador in London. "As WikiLeaks stands under threat, so does the freedom of expression and the health of all our societies," the founder of website said to cheers from his supporters outside the embassy. "The U.S. war on whistle-blowers must end," Assange said, calling for the freedom of Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier suspected of giving hundreds of thousands of pages of secret American government documents to Assange for publication on WikiLeaks.NEW: UNASUR backs Ecuador and calls for dialogue to resolve the standoffJulian Assange links WikiLeaks to freedom of expression around the worldThe founder of WikiLeaks hadn't been seen since June, or spoken in public since MarchEcuador's president says Britain threatened to raid the embassy to arrest Assange 
 Question:Ecuador raised the stakes in its diplomatic row with the United Kingdom on Thursday, officially offering _ asylum in the South American country.

Julian Assange