Unhappy over forced move
Tensions rise as refugees refuse to leave detention camp in Papua New Guinea.
SYDNEY: Lawyers for the asylum seekers living at Australia’s detention centre on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island sought a court injunction to keep the facility open as fears mounted of violence amid reports of looting and rock-throwing by local residents.
Papua New Guinea authorities planned to cut off water, electricity and food supplies to the centre inside the Lombrun Navy Base at 5pm yesterday.
The closing date was set after Papua New Guinea’s Supreme Court ruled last year that Australia’s detention of asylum seekers there was illegal and unconstitutional.
The 606 men – diverted by Australian authorities to Manus after attempting to reach Australia by boat – refuse to comply with an order to relocate to three nearby facilities because they say the alternatives are less secure and they fear for their safety amid threats of violence from locals.
With the centre left unguarded as of yesterday morning, reports emerged of locals, some armed with machetes, looting the facility.
Sudanese refugee Abdul Mohammad said asylum seekers and refugees feared for their lives.
“Some of the locals have come inside and are stealing boxes, fire alarms, the fans, some of them are taking the air-conditioners,” he said by phone from Manus Island.
Bangladeshi refugee Mohammad Ohidul Islam said some locals have been throwing rocks at refugees.
“We are really scared,” he said from inside the centre.
Rohingya Muslim refugee Imran Mohammed told the Sydney Morning Herald that local police were occasionally patrolling the site but were “not doing anything”.
Media reports said some 100 locals rallied in Lorengau yesterday morning, calling for the refugees to be sent to Australia and not brought into their community.
Trying to prevent the closure, lawyers acting for the Sydney-based Refugee Action Coalition applied to the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court for an injunction to prevent the facility’s closure and restore the supply of food, water and electricity, and warned of a “catastrophic outcome” if the detainees were evicted.
“We were in a Supreme Court hearing this morning where we’re hopeful of being able to raise the immediate issues of the abuse of human rights on Manus Island,” coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said from Sydney.
“I’m pretty sure we’ll get the urgent hearing, but we are waiting to hear whether we’ll get the urgent injunctions to stop the closure and the forced relocations.”
Papua New Guinea officials have said the facility will be returned to defence forces today and anyone remaining would be considered to be trespassing on a military base.
“Move to alternative accommodation now,” read notices that were posted by immigration officials on Monday night.
“Anyone choosing to remain here will be liable for removal from an active PNG military base.”
Locals have threatened to blockade the three intended relocation centres in the nearby town of Lorengau – two of which are not surrounded by fencing.
As Papua New Guinea authorities deployed extra police to the town, Rintoul said the situation on Manus was tense.
“There’s a lot of things in play,” Rintoul said.
“There’s the court, and there’s how willing the PNG police and Border Force Australia are to use force against those in the detention centre.
“But we know that the Australian government is very willing to use very brutal methods.
“They have the capacity to continue the siege of the detention centre and try to starve people out even if they baulk at the use of explicit force.”
The detainees have reportedly secured fencing around the Lombrun compound as a possible barricade and have cleaned trash bins to collect rainwater and reconnected cut water tanks.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said some asylum seekers had also been seen in shops buying food and solar-powered phone chargers, in order to use their phones for lighting.