ID :
153917
Sat, 12/18/2010 - 20:08
Auther :

Christmas Island detainees remember dead



Protests will make way for remembrance on Christmas Island on Sunday when memorial
services are held to remember the 30 asylum seekers whose bodies were recovered
after their boat sank on Wednesday.
Detainees from the Phosphate Hill and Construction Camp detention facilities were
involved in two separate protests on Friday.
Survivors of the boat tragedy took part, showing their injuries to media as
Department of Immigration officials tried to persuade the protesters to return to
the detention centre.
At least 30 asylum seekers - 13 men, nine women, four children and four babies -
died early on Wednesday as locals watched on in horror, able to do little to help
because of the dangerous conditions.
The Navy plucked 41 survivors from the sea and one made it ashore but Prime Minister
Julia Gillard has said the true number killed may never be known amid reports the
boat was carrying as many as 100 Iraqis, Kurds and Iranians.
Some detainees on the island believed they knew someone or had a connection with
people killed on the boat that sank on Wednesday.
Disaster victim identification is still under way and connections to some of the
2879 detainees were yet to be verified, an immigration spokesman said.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said emotions were raw in the Christmas Island
detention facilities, where memorial services are to be held on Sunday and Monday.
Discussions about a community memorial service were also under way, he said.
"It has been a very difficult time for all involved," Mr Bowen told reporters in
Sydney on Saturday.
But protest action would not achieve their desired outcome, the immigration minister
said.
"Protest action does not achieve anything," he said.
Christmas Island shire councillor Kamar Ismail said some locals were still in shock.
"I guess for the locals it's day by day, still the same, I guess for the detainees
it's different," Mr Ismail said.
The recovery effort is continuing, with weather conditions having improved on Saturday.
"The weather is nice now," Mr Ismail said.
"The water is a lot calmer. It's fine at the moment."
On Friday, a protest at the Phosphate Hill centre involving about 50 people was
followed by one involving 70 at the Construction Camp facility.
An immigration spokesman said at the Phosphate Hill protest, some had raised
concerns as to whether enough action was taken to rescue the passengers from the
boat that crashed into the Christmas Island cliffs and sank on Wednesday.
"Other concerns were raised about food and airconditioning," he said.
"It was a peaceful protest, the facility remained calm at all times. There was no
damage, there was definitely no riot, there was no breakout as such, they simply
came out and said their piece simply because the media were there."
He said a power outage on Friday was responsible for the lack of airconditioning on
the tropical island, and their unhappiness at the discomfort was not surprising.
Australian Federal Police had overseen the protest for about two hours before it
broke up, he said.
Hours later about 70 detainees staged their protest at the Construction Camp,
holding up signs and chanting "Help me, UN".
"About 70 people came out of one of the compounds, they were at the entrance of one
of the compounds and they simply sat by the roadside, a group of them ... holding A4
size pieces of paper with whatever issues may be," the spokesman said.
"They were held up simply because the media were outside."


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