Riots at Australian detention centre

Asylum seekers in protests over delays in processing applications at Australian offshore detention centre More than 200 rioters set fire to buildings and tried to escape a crowded Australian offshore detention centre in an escalation of protests to gain asylum in the country. Police fired non-lethal so-called bean bag rounds and teargas canisters to regain control over the detention centre on Christmas Island after the riot started on Thursday night, the immigration minister Chris Bowen said. Two administration buildings were burned as well as seven accommodation tents after asylum seekers armed with bricks and poles and throwing rocks charged police and the perimeter fences, the Australian federal police deputy commissioner, Steve Lancaster, said. Some rioters breached the perimeter wall and police were not yet sure whether all had been recaptured, he said. Two asylum seekers were taken to hospital, one with chest injuries and another suffering chest pains. The riot follows a week of sometimes violent protests at immigration detention centres on the Indian Ocean island and on the Australian mainland over delays in processing asylum applications. Authorities are struggling to cope with increasing numbers of asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Sri Lanka who attempt to reach Australia by boat. “A small group of detainees have made it clear that they would continue violent action until they were granted visas,” Bowen told reporters. “We don’t let that sort of behaviour influence our consideration of visa applications.” Authorities responded to the riots by accelerating plans to relocate hundreds of the 2,500 detainees on Christmas Island to mainland detention centres to reduce crowding and brought in police reinforcements. A total of 105 detainees, none of whom was involved in the fracas, were flown from the island on Friday, while 70 police were flown in, bringing the total police strength to 188. “This is a very tense and serious situation,” Bowen said. Police would investigate charging the rioters. Bowen warned that the culprits could fail their refugee test on character grounds. An asylum seeker broke his leg this week in another Christmas Island protest, which police quelled. The detainees include asylum seekers whose refugee applications have yet to be judged, those who have had their applications rejected but refuse to return to their homelands and those who have been accepted as refugees but are pending security clearances before they are freed in Australia. The Australian human rights commissioner, Catherine Branson, is concerned about processing delays, which have left most of the 6,500 asylum seekers in detention for more than six months. Australia Refugees Human rights guardian.co.uk

Posted by on March 18, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.