Riot breaks out in Australian Refugee Detention Center: Christmas Island

Monday, November 23, 2009

Riot breaks out in Australian Refugee Detention Center: Christmas Island

Just goes to show how even 969 asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka can be a handful on a deserted isolated island detention center.

Even when Australia itself is a signatory of the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention which expects it to give all political refugees the equivalent rights to employment, health care, education, social benefits and travel documents like native Australian citizens.

I hope that this will make the Australian « journalists » INSAF and stop trying to « bad-mouth » other countries who are doing their best to deal with over 2 million illegal immigrants, when these countries themselves are still developing countries themselves, unlike the land of paradise Australia.

Australia, as you all know is in the top 5 best quality of life places to live in the world.

Unlike Malaysia who has to struggle to cope with the millions of illegal immigrants on its shores under the intense and unfair spotlight of the « righteous » Machiavellian video journalists from Special Broadcasting Service in Australia, Channel 4 in UK and Amos Roberts, another Australian who works for Al-Jazeera.

Is it a wonder why we need the services of 500,000 RELA volunteers to maintain civil order and control crime in Malaysia?

I think not.

It is even more sickening to find out that only a little over a year ago, the Australian Immigration policy as regards asylum seekers was exactly the same as Malaysia’s.

Arrest all asylum seekers and put in detention. Then process each and every application. This could take years, as is the case everywhere else.

Asylum seekers injured in Christmas Island riot

http://www.smh.com.au

November 23, 2009

THIRTY-SEVEN Afghan and Sri Lankans have been injured in a massed brawl on Christmas Island involving 150 detainees.

Ten of the detainees were taken to the island’s hospital and three of the more seriously hurt – one with a broken leg, one with a broken jaw and one with a broken nose – were flown to Perth for treatment yesterday.

Some guards suffered minor injuries while breaking up the fight, an Immigration Department spokesman said last night.

The spokesman said the department, Sirco – which runs the centre – and Australian Federal Police based on the island were investigating the brawl.

He said it was too soon to say what triggered the violence.

The trouble began about 6.30pm on Saturday. As the confrontation between the Afghans and more recently arrived Sri Lankans developed, those involved wielded pool cues, broom handles and branches.

Detention centre staff moved in quickly to break it up but it took them 30 minutes to get those fighting under control.

« This was a confrontation between a group of detainees, it was not aimed at staff or the centre itself, » the spokesman said.

There are 969 asylum seekers detained in the centre, which is designed to take 1088.

The spokesman said the detention centre was not overcrowded and all of the detainees were accommodated appropriately.

The two groups involved had been separated to ensure there was no further friction, he said, and they were being kept apart in two sections of the centre.

 »All is calm and there have been no further incidents, » the spokesman said.

The Opposition immigration spokeswoman, Sharman Stone, described it as « very disturbing » and called on the Federal Government to launch an independent inquiry into what went wrong.

She said it was a « serious breach of internal security » and both detainees and staff were in real danger.

The Immigration Minister, Chris Evans, was not available for comment last night.

Forty-four boats carrying 2094 passengers, most of them from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iraq, and 92 crew have arrived in Australian waters so far this year.

The latest was intercepted by the Australian Customs vessel Roebuck Bay south-west of the Ashmore Islands on Friday.

It was carrying 53 passengers and two crew, and they were taken to Christmas Island.

The boat was the fifth to arrive in Australian waters in a week.

with Gabrielle Knowles

150 asylum-seekers riot at Australia detention centre

(AFP) – 23 novembre 2009

SYDNEY — Australian police Monday investigated a riot by 150 asylum-seekers at a remote island detention centre after inmates reportedly attacked each other with pool cues, broomsticks and tree branches, wounding 37.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans said the mass brawl broke out after an argument between Afghans and Sri Lankans on Christmas Island, Australia’s main centre for asylum-seekers far off its northwestern coast, late on Saturday.

« It seems like there was a fight between some Afghans and some Sri Lankans and that sort of escalated, » Evans told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, rejecting claims of overcrowding.

The violence followed the arrival of scores more asylum-seekers on rickety people-smuggling boats in recent weeks, and the repatriation of some Sri Lankans after they were found not to be refugees.

Evans said some Sri Lankans had become concerned they would also be sent home and tensions could have arisen because most Afghans held at the centre are ultimately given refugee status and resettled in Australia.

« That may well have been at the heart of some of the tensions in the centre, » Evans said.

« But essentially we have had a fight between some detainees which got out of hand and until there is a full police investigation, we are only really speculating as (to) what the real causes were. »

Evans said despite the recent influx of detainees, the centre was not overcrowded. He said those involved in the riot could face criminal charges once Australian Federal Police complete their investigation.

Three people were seriously hurt and were flown to Perth for treatment. Several guards also sustained minor injuries.

More than 40 boats carrying more than 2,000 asylum seekers, mostly from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iraq, have arrived in Australian waters this year.

As of Friday, 1,184 were detained at Christmas Island, which recently moved to boost its capacity by installing temporary beds in a recreation area and shipping in portable buildings.

Refugees clash at Australia’s Christmas Island centre

newsimg.bbc.co.uk

23 novembre 2009

Clashes have broken out between refugees from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan at an Australian immigration detention centre on Christmas Island.

Officials took more than half an hour to break up the fights between about 150 inmates – 40 of whom were injured.

The centre has been struggling to cope with a recent influx of refugees, many arriving by boat from Sri Lanka.

Australia plans to increase the capacity of the centre to more than 2,000 beds to cope with the demand.

Fighting erupted in the men’s section of the centre, with Afghan and Sri Lankan refugees using tree branches, pool cues and broom handles to attack each other.

Three people were taken by plane to Perth – 2,600km (1,600 miles) away – for treatment for broken bones. Another 37 people were given medical treatment on the island.

Immigration authorities on Christmas Island are investigating what caused the outbreak of violence, and Afghan and Sri Lankan inmates have been temporarily segregated as a precaution.

Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans said there had been increased tensions in the camp, particularly among the Sri Lankan refugees after some were ruled not to be genuine asylum seekers and were returned home.

The remote processing facility on Christmas Island houses about 1,000 inmates, who are held in custody while their claims for refugee status are assessed.

There has been a tenfold increase in the number of people arriving at the centre in recent months, many of them picked up as they try to reach Australia by sea.

The BBC’s Phil Mercer in Sydney says Australian opposition politicians have accused the government of losing control of the country’s borders.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has promised to take a hard line approach to people smugglers, but has insisted that anyone seeking asylum would be treated humanely.

Last month, the government said it was adding 800 more beds to the 1,200 already at the centre, to deal with the rise in people coming from Sri Lanka.

Australien: Krawalle in Asyllager

http://www.bild.de/BILD/System/Bilder/logo__site-01.gif

Montag, 23. November 2009

Bei Krawallen in einem Aufnahmelager für Asylsuchende sind in Australien mindestens 37 Menschen verletzt worden. Rund 150 Insassen des Lagers auf der Weihnachtsinsel seien nach einem Streit zwischen Flüchtlingen aus Sri Lanka und Afghanistan aufeinander losgegangen, sagte Einwanderungsminister Chris Evans. Nach seinen Angaben sollen Ermittlungen die Hintergründe der Auseinandersetzungen klären. Evans vermutet Spannungen zwischen den beiden Flüchtlingsgruppen hinter dem Streit: Während die afghanischen Männer in der Regel als Flüchtlinge anerkannt würden, seien mehrere srilankische Insassen in jüngster Zeit in ihre Heimat zurückgeschickt worden. Schon seit Tagen herrschte demnach unter ihren Landsleuten eine gespannte Stimmung.

~ par Alain Bertho sur 23 novembre 2009.

Publié dans émeutes, riots