Villawood detainees threatening to jump

A rooftop protest at a Sydney detention centre by nine Chinese nationals, one of
whom is pregnant, looks set to enter its first night with no sign of a breakthrough.
The five men and four women claim to have been on a hunger strike since Monday, and
all are threatening to jump if Australian authorities don't agree to give them
refugee protection visas.
One of the women has told refugee advocates she is two months pregnant.
The group climbed onto the roof of the Villawood detention centre, in Sydney's west,
at about 9am (AEST) on Wednesday.
The demonstration came less than 16 hours after a tense 30-hour standoff with 11
mostly Tamil asylum seekers ended on the roof of another wing.
As temperatures soared into the mid-twenties on Wednesday afternoon, the Chinese
nationals - aged between 20 and 27 - huddled together on the roof as they searched
for shade.
The protesters, who speak little English, told an interpreter they came from China's
Fujian province and had been in Australia from between two and six months, entering
the country on student and tourist visas.
Jamal Daoud, of the Justice Action Network, told reporters their applications for
refugee protection visas had been turned down by the Immigration Department.
The group has threatened to jump off the roof if there is no agreement to review
their cases by Wednesday night, although they didn't specify a time.
"The department has told them they have exhausted all legal avenues," Mr Daoud said.
"They are about to be deported."
The detainees say they have been on hunger strike since the death of 36-year-old
Fijian Josefa Rulani, who killed himself at the centre on Monday.
On the other side of the barbed wire, about 24 protesters have shouted words of
encouragement to the group, such as "free, free the refugees".
The group on the roof waved back, yelling "freedom".
A spokesman for the Immigration Department would not say who the protesters were or
what their immigration status was.
"They are not irregular maritime arrivals," he told AAP.
Meanwhile, the 11 men who ended a standoff on the centre's roof on Tuesday night had
been placed in isolation, despite assurances they would not be punished, Mr Daoud
said.
"This will weaken their confidence and the Chinese (protesters') confidence in the
authorities to do as they have promised," he said.
Another group of 16 Iranian and Kurdish asylum seekers are staging a hunger strike
to protest against their possible deportation.
Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition, said one of them, a 25-year-old, had
been taken to Bankstown hospital on Wednesday morning.
Three Iranian men - aged, 42, 31 and 34 - had been taken to hospital on Tuesday
afternoon, he said.
"There are serious concerns for their health of those hospitalised and for those
remaining on hunger strike," he said.
"The crisis in Villawood is a direct result of maintaining mandatory detention and
off-shore processing."
A spokesman for the Immigration Department on Tuesday confirmed that 16 people had
been on a hunger strike for four days although he refused to say if any of them had
been hospitalised.
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said more protests would happen if
Labor couldn't stem the flow of boats of suspected asylum seekers and speed up
refugee processing.
"The government is responsible, ultimately, for the rolling crisis, I think you
could say, we now have in our detention centres," he told reporters in Canberra.
"Their decision to make the appeals process more extensive and longer with a
panel-based approach is contributing to the issue here."
Independent MP Tony Windsor said detainees should be treated compassionately, but
added there was no simple solution to addressing the claims of asylum seekers.