Asylum-seekers set fire to 5 buildings in Australia
CANBERRA, Dec 19: Australian authorities used water canon and tear gas to quell a second night of rioting at the country’s biggest and most isolated detention camp for illegal immigrants, officials said on Wednesday.
Attorney-General Daryl Williams said detainees set fire to five buildings at the Woomera detention centre after as many as 15 buildings were set ablaze, five of which were destroyed, the previous night.
Hundreds of detainees rioted, pelting staff with stones and some of the asylum seekers attacked a perimeter fence until extra security arrived.
On Wednesday morning the situation at Woomera was described as calm with no injuries reported but the centre remained on a high alert with additional security.
The riots were the latest incidents in a string of violence and escapes at Woomera which is one of six camps in Australia to house people who arrive illegally or overstay visas while their cases are assessed, which can take years with appeals.
Australia has one of the world’s toughest regimes for dealing with illegal arrivals and has been criticized by human rights groups for its policy of automatically detaining illegal immigrants in secure centres while their applications are handled.
It has come under further fire since August when it started to turn away unwanted migrants arriving by boat so that they can be processed from centres in other countries.
Williams said the police were investigating the riots and charges could be laid against some of the 949 mostly Middle Eastern asylum seekers at Woomera. Others had helped put out the fires.
He accused the rioters of conducting a criminal campaign to try to pressure the government to grant them visas to stay in Australia with many of those believed responsible for the violence awaiting deportation after their applications failed.
“The message I think we need to get to the detainees who are conducting this criminal campaign is that vandalism is not going to get you a visa,” Williams, acting immigration minister, told Channel Nine television on Wednesday.
“It’s absolutely the wrong way of going about getting any benefits they seek from the Australian community.”
STRING OF VIOLENCE: The problems have been more acute at Woomera than other centres, blamed by refugee advocacy groups on the camp’s remote location in barren South Australian desert about 475 kms north of Adelaide.
“In this kind of environment people lose all sense of hope, particularly as they’ve no notion how long they will be there,” Refugee Council of Australia head Margaret Piper said.
Last year about 500 Woomera detainees broke out of the camp and staged a sit-in outside a supermarket in a nearby township to protest about conditions and officials said there had been eight fire-related incidents at the centre since Nov 20.
The Amnesty International has called for an inquiry into Australia’s policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers, which includes women and children.
“We believe that there should be some form of detention to determine people’s identities, health or security risk, but to hold them for any length of time is against international law,” Amnesty Australia spokesman Stuart Webb told Australian radio.
But the government refuses to be swayed.
“There will be no change in government policy in relation to the detention centre,” Williams said.—Reuters
