Australians protest against emergency in detention camp

More than 1,000 people protested in Australia on Saturday against the treatment of hundreds of asylum seekers in an offshore detention centre that the United Nations has described as an “unfolding humanitarian emergency”. About 600 men have barricaded themselves inside the camp on remote Manus island in Papua New Guinea, defying efforts by Australia and PNG to shut it. Food, running water and medical services were cut off by Australia four days ago. Australian authorities want the men moved to a transit centre elsewhere on the island at the start of a process the asylum seekers fear will result in them being resettled in PNG or another developing nation. The men also fear violent reprisals from the local community. Australia’s offshore detention policies have been heavily criticised by the United Nations and human rights groups but are backed the centre-right government and the Labor opposition. China’s largely rubberstamp parliament formally extended a law banning disrespect of the national anthem on Saturday to cover Hong Kong, a move that critics have said undermined the Chinese-ruled city’s autonomy and freedoms.

In the past few years, some Hong Kong football fans have booed the national anthem during World Cup qualifiers and other matches, mirroring protests in the United States where football players knelt during the national anthem, a practice denounced by US President Donald Trump.

China passed a new law in September mandating up to 15 days in police detention for those who mock the “March of the Volunteers” national anthem, a law that also covers the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macau but was not imme-