LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks is opening a new front in its battle to break the financial blockade imposed by credit card giants Visa and MasterCard, the group said Wednesday, saying it could now accept donations through a French non-profit.

Visa and MasterCard were among half a dozen U.S. payment firms to pull the plug on WikiLeaks, shortly after the group made its controversial decision to begin publishing some 250,000 secret State Department cables in December 2010.

It's not clear whether Visa or MasterCard would tolerate the move, which would route money through France's Fund for the Defense of Net Neutrality. In 2011 WikiLeaks briefly opened a funding gateway - through Icelandic payment processor DataCell - only to see it shut down by Visa on short notice.

In his statement, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange - who remains holed up at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he is seeking asylum - dared Visa to try to foil his latest fundraising plan."Let them shut it down," he said. "We're waiting. Our lawyers are waiting."