Unauthorized immigrants from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka are at present frequently sailing towards Australia on small boats but most are detected by aerial surveillance, intercepted by the navy and initially taken to Christmas Island, a small and remote Australian territory in the Indian ocean. The sudden influx of “boat people” since the election of a Leftist government and its wishy-washy policies has created a big problem for the government concerned. A news report below followed by a commentary
A GROUP of agitated Sri Lankans facing deportation staged a tense standoff with police and immigration authorities yesterday when one scaled a pole in the Christmas Island detention centre and threatened to jump. The six men were among a large group of detainees due to be flown off the island last night on a government charter and sent back to Sri Lanka without visas. But they refused to leave voluntarily.
Emotions ran high inside the detention centre yesterday morning before the man shimmied up the tall, steel lightpole at about 9.30am, apparently urged on by others determined to stage a protest. Visiting guests and maintenance crews looked on in shock as detainees shouted and gestured to the man, who, almost eight hours later, was persuaded to come down.
Last night an immigration spokesman said all six men had agreed to end their protest and the detention centre was “calm”. “Protest action at the Christmas Island immigration detention centre has been peacefully resolved without incident,” a department spokesman said.
Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said the man who scaled the pole was one of three Sri Lankans who believed they were being tricked into signing forms agreeing to voluntary deportation. “Anxiety levels among detainees have risen since the forced deportation of Sinhalese men in early October,” said Mr Rintoul, adding that yesterday’s incident was one of the most serious at the centre.
Within minutes of the man climbing the pole, contractor Serco evacuated the area and locked down the communal recreation hub inside the centre. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship brought in a psychologist, police and other professionals to manage the situation.
During his high-level protest the detainee accepted water and ice and was offered food by officials who spoke to him from a cherrypicker. The five other men on the ground refused to co-operate.
On Wednesday the Rudd government deported 12 male Sri Lankan asylum-seekers, including a teenage boy, bringing the total number of asylum-seekers denied visas and sent home this year to 115. Last night the department intended to press on with the removal of other asylum-seekers by charter plane, as well as the removal of 12 Indonesian boat crewmen. The six Sri Lankans involved in yesterday’s protest were not put on the flight.
Last night the Department of Immigration and Citizenship flew three Sri Lankans and a parent and child from Indonesia to immigration detention in Perth, from where they will be sent home. The removals left 1127 asylum-seekers and 11 Indonesian crew on Christmas Island, including 925 men inside the immigration detention centre. There were 131 in family groups at a converted construction workers’ camp, 38 in demountables and 44 living in houses in what is termed community detention.
