47 Afghan Refugees Refuse To Continue Staying At Immigration Detention Center

Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands, Jan 26 (Antara) - Forty-seven refugees from Afghanistan have refused to continue staying at the immigration detention center in Tanjungpinang in the Sumatran province of Riau Islands and have urged the immigration officers to release them. They urged immigration officers to release them on Tuesday and "threatened to riot unless their demand was met." As result of this, they have been allowed to stay outside the detention center but under guard, head of the center, Surya Pranata, said here on Tuesday. He denied that they had escaped from the detention center, adding that immigration center officers and police were keeping a vigil on them. They went only as far as two kilometers from the center, but were taken into custody by the police. "They are still being identified and questioned by the police. I was coordinating with the police until this afternoon," he added. Pranata said the refugees had deliberately planned to act like this in order to attract attention of the International Organization for Migration. They had demanded to be kept at a hotel, and while the IOM did try to move them to a hotel in Batam, the local immigration rejected it. "The refugees are impatient even as efforts are still on to make arrangements for them to stay at a hotel," he said. At present, there are a total of 145 refugees from Afghanistan. On an average, they have been living at the immigration detention center for 1.4 to 2 years.