PNG police evict refugees from Australia camp

SYDNEY: - ing refugees from a shuttered Australian camp in Papua New Guinea on Thursday, detainees said, as authorities tried to end a standoff that has drawn world attention to Canberra’s tough policy on asylum-seekers.

Refugees barricaded in the abandoned camp said authorities entered the centre in the morning, pulling belongings from their rooms and shouting at them to get into buses lined up to take them to transition centers elsewhere on Manus.

A photo shared by Australian ac refugee Behrouz Boochani, who has been acting as a spokesman for the detainees, being led away from the camp by police.

GetUp spokeswoman Zoe Edwards told Agence France-Presse refugees inside the camp said “men apparently to other centers.”

“The situation is unfolding, so it’s

Other detainees tweeted that dozens of men were being taken away, despite PNG Police Commissioner Gari Baki saying earlier this week that no force would be used.

There was no immediate comment from PNG police Thursday and no immediate reports of injuries during the operation.

Boochani wrote earlier on Twitter from inside the camp the shelters, water tanks and are

prison camp. We are on high alert right now. We are under attack,” he said, adding that two refugees were in need of urgent medical treatment for health issues.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull - ernment’s stance that none of the refugees, who were sent to the camp for trying to reach Australia by boat, would be brought to his country.

Fearful of locals

The camp, established alongside another on Nauru under Canberra’s harsh immigration policy, was shut on October 31 after a PNG court ruled it was unconstitutional.

to three PNG-run transition centres on the island, despite Australia cutting off water and electricity, and with limited food supplies.

The detainees said they were fearful of hostility from locals outside the camp, and said the new centers were not fully operational, water or electricity.

the rest stayed put despite worsening conditions.

The men are barred from resettling in Australia, and Turnbull said Thursday their actions were meant to pressure Canberra to let them

“They think this is some way they - ment to let them come to Australia. Well, we will not be pressured,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“The people on Manus should with all of the facilities they need.”

Global rights group Amnesty International said Thursday there were “risks of serious injury if the authorities use force,” and called for the refugees to be brought to Australia.

Australian Federal Police said in a statement to Agence FrancePresse that they had one liaison - in the police operation.