22 January 2015, Manus Island- Several hundred men remain on hunger strike across the Australian-run detention centre as protests continue for eighth day. Two more hunger strikers on Manus Island have reportedly swallowed razor blades, as the protests continue for an eighth day.
The two Sudanese men in Foxtrot compound were taken to the detention centre’s medical clinic on Tuesday night after
being found by fellow detainees bleeding from the mouth.
They are the third and fourth men to swallow razor blades as an act of protest.
Several hundred men remain on hunger strike across the detention centre. In Foxtrot compound, the men are lying under a large shelter on mats on concrete.
Those who collapse or fall unconscious from dehydration are often carried by fellow detainees to the front gate for medical treatment.
Three more men were arrested from Delta compound overnight on Tuesday. Guards are looking for men with mobile phones who are communicating with people outside.
“The security and mobile police came to Delta last night at 11.30pm, they took three guys to the prison again … they suspect them as trouble-maker,” one detainee told Guardian Australia.
After detention centre guards in riot gear forced their way into the barricaded Delta compound on Monday, there were suggestions from PNG authorities that the protest had been ended peacefully.
But staff on the island have told Guardian Australia the mood remains tense, and the protesters apparently unbowed.Immigration minister Peter Dutton told the ABC’s 7.30 program on Tuesday night some of the men in Delta compound “had fashioned weapons, or there was a suggestion of that”, when the raids took place on Monday.
Asked what weapons the men had, Dutton said: “I think it’s important to point out that we’re not talking about firearms, for example, we’re talking about homemade or home-fashioned weapons … I’m not going into detail.”
In February last year, PNG mobile squad police and other local employees stormed the Manus detention centre and attacked detainees during riots.
One man, Reza Barati, was killed – allegedly murdered by two workers who dropped a rock on his head - and 70 were injured.
Throughout this week’s protests, detainees have said they fear similar violence.
“The clients are afraid that something very horrible happen for them exactly the same that happened in February 2014. We are on peaceful hunger strike and there is no violence, but they [guards] are trying to turn our peaceful strike into riot,” the detainee said.
More than 250 of the men on Manus have been in detention there since August 2013, according to immigration department staff on the island.
The vast majority are still waiting on their refugee status determinations. No refugee has ever been resettled from Manus Island detention centre.
Dutton said the processing of refugees on Manus was a matter for PNG.
The Manus Island detention centre is paid for by the Australian government and run by an Australian contractor, Transfield Services.
“There are people within the Manus Island processing centre at the moment who are eligible and who are transitioning, but that is an issue for the PNG government to comment on,” Dutton said.
He said the government would not be swayed from its policy objective.
“We have sent a very strong message that we are not going to settle people that have come by boats, that are at Manus at the moment, and that is a very clear message that people should hear.”
Detainees have asked to be handed over to the United Nations for processing.
No comments :
Post a Comment