Arab Times

Tear gas used to quell unrest:

Asia

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Australian police used tear gas to put down a two-day riot at a migrant detention centre Tuesday, where detainees, reportedly armed with machetes, chainsaws and petrol bombs, were running amok.

Reinforcem­ents were sent to the remote Christmas Island facility after violence erupted and fires were set in a protest triggered late Sunday by the unexplaine­d death of a man.

“The department can confirm all areas of the Christmas Island Immigratio­n Detention Facility are under the full and effective control of service providers and department staff,” the Immigratio­n Department said in a statement.

Five detainees were being treated for non-life threatenin­g injuries, while Immigratio­n Minister Peter Dutton said the damage bill would be well over Aus $1 million ($700,000).

Police used tear gas and bean-bag rounds — designed to deliver an immobilisi­ng but not lethal blow — to subdue rioters.

“Some force was used with a core group of detainees who had built barricades and actively resisted attempts to secure compounds, including threatened use of weapons and improvised weapons,” the department said. (AFP)

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