Inmates have lit fires at Australia’s Christmas Island detention centre in a “major disturbance” that is yet to be resolved, state government officials.
The immigration department confirmed in a statement that guards had been withdrawn for “safety reasons”. Medical, educational and sporting facilities have been damaged.
The latest statement comes from a denial of a “large-scale riot” was taking place but said the situation at the centre for refugees and asylum seekers was “tense”. The Christmas Island centre also houses New Zealanders facing deportation from Australia.
The unrest is believed to have been started soon after inmates became suspicious about the death of an Iranian Kurd named Fazel Chegeni, who escaped from the facility on Saturday.
Chegeni’s body was found at the bottom of a cliff one day later, the Department of Immigration said. A report on his death was being prepared for the coroner.
“The protest action began when a small group of Iranian detainees took part in a peaceful protest following the escape from, and death outside the centre, of a detainee on Sunday,” the statement said.
“While peaceful protest is permissible, other detainees took advantage of the situation to engage in property damage and general unrest.”
Ian Rintoul, of the Refugee Action Coalition group, told the Sydney Morning Herald that Mr Chegeni was “suffering the effects of long-term arbitrary detention”.
“He had told other detainees that he could no longer stand being in detention and just wanted ‘to go outside’,” he said.
Source: BBC
