March 30, 2002	Saturday	Muharram 15, 1423

ADELAIDE (Australia) March 29: Police in riot gear clashed with demonstrators who broke into Australia’s notorious Woomera immigration detention centre on Friday after pulling down its razor wire fencing.

More than 1,000 people protesting against Australia’s hardline policies on illegal immigration had earlier clashed with government security officers who tried to move them from a camp outside the perimeter of the centre in the South Australian outback.

Some of the detainees, mostly Afghan and Middle Eastern illegal immigrants whose claims for asylum have been turned down, chanted from the roof of the buildings in a show of solidarity with the protesters.

Television news footage showed the demonstrators pulling and pushing the fencing, which appeared to be about six metres (19 feet) high, until it toppled.

Then some of the demonstrators ran inside the centre where they were confronted by helmeted baton-wielding police carrying riot shields.

The incident followed signs of trouble outside the centre overnight, with clashes between several protesters and security officers.

Scuffles broke out as government security officers attempted to move some of the demonstrators camped near the detention centre to another site at the Woomera township two kilometres (just over a mile) away.

The protesters, mostly left-wing activists and refugee support groups demanding an end to immigration controls, were part of an Easter weekend demonstration against Australia’s policy of mandatory detention for illegal immigrants.

Organisers said they were expecting up to 5,000 people for “a weekend of civil disobedience.”

Woomera, the largest and most isolated of Australia’s six detention centres, has seen repeated riots, hunger strikes and self-mutilation by detainees, who are mostly from Afghanistan and the Middle East.

An Immigration Department spokesman said some asylum seekers were “demonstrating peacefully by yelling out ‘Visa, Visa’” while standing on the roof of centre buildings.

But he said the situation within the centre remained controlled.

Refugee activist Cyrus Sarang, president of the Sydney-based Refugee Action Collective, said police had earlier practised martial arts and tested water cannon in preparation for further clashes.

Sarang said he spoke to some of the detainees and claimed some feared for their safety after security officers had threatened them.

“Riot police are practising martial arts in front of them,” he said.

“They are also using water cannons and running around coming close to the fence. They are practising how to attack.”

Sarang claimed some of the officers had kicked down protesters’ tents and dismantled them.

“They told the protesters to move to the town, ‘you are not welcome here’, but the protesters are saying ‘we’re not moving, this is a free country’.”

He said the officers claimed the area was restricted, although the protest site was a kilometre from the centre.

A spokesman for the Australian Protective Service said its of