SYDNEY: Thousands of people marched across ma­­jor Australian cities on Sat­urday calling for an end to Canberra’s offshore detention of asylum-seekers.

The government sends anyone who tries to enter the country by sea to camps on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island or on Nauru in the Pacific for processing.

Protesters took to the streets to mark the fifth anniversary of the policy’s reintroduction, when in 2013 Canberra significantly toughened its stance, signing deals with the Pacific nations and declaring anyone arriving by boat had “no chance” of being settled in Australia.

“The policy that was intro­­­duced in 2013, to expel people — the ‘Fortress Australia’ policy that they (the government) put in place — that has to go,” rally organiser Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition told Sydney protesters.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2018