ID :
197306
Tue, 07/26/2011 - 13:32
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http://m.oananews.org//node/197306
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Asylum seekers protest on Darwin rooftop
SYDNEY (AAP) - July 26 - About 20 asylum seekers are staging a peaceful protest and hunger strike on the roof of a detention centre in Darwin, immigration officials have confirmed.
About 10 men climbed on to the roof of the Northern Immigration Detention Centre on the Stuart Highway on Sunday but the number increased to 21 by mid-afternoon on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Department of Immigration told AAP.
That number had dropped to 20 by 5.30pm (CST) and the situation was described as "fluid in nature".
He said Serco, the security company that manages the centre, had engaged detainees individually and as a group since the weekend, negotiating with them to come down.
He confirmed the detainees were "engaged in voluntary starvation" and said Serco would continue to monitor the situation and the welfare of the detainees.
Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition, claimed managers at the centre on Sunday threatened to forcibly remove the rooftop protesters and take them to jail, before more people joined the protest.
Mr Rintoul told AAP a further 60 Afghan asylum seekers were participating in a hunger strike inside the centre, but the immigration spokesman said the number of asylum seekers inside engaged in voluntary starvation was closer to 15 or 20.
"The protest is about the long delays in processing, and the unfairness and lack of transparency in the granting of visas," Mr Rintoul said, adding that many people had been waiting up to 22 months for answers, while other asylum seekers were released after only a few months in detention.
He said asylum seekers on the roof were holding banners and wearing t-shirts with a variety of slogans, saying: "we need help from humanitarian nation, we are human" and "we came here for peace and safety not being in the cage".
About 10 men climbed on to the roof of the Northern Immigration Detention Centre on the Stuart Highway on Sunday but the number increased to 21 by mid-afternoon on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Department of Immigration told AAP.
That number had dropped to 20 by 5.30pm (CST) and the situation was described as "fluid in nature".
He said Serco, the security company that manages the centre, had engaged detainees individually and as a group since the weekend, negotiating with them to come down.
He confirmed the detainees were "engaged in voluntary starvation" and said Serco would continue to monitor the situation and the welfare of the detainees.
Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition, claimed managers at the centre on Sunday threatened to forcibly remove the rooftop protesters and take them to jail, before more people joined the protest.
Mr Rintoul told AAP a further 60 Afghan asylum seekers were participating in a hunger strike inside the centre, but the immigration spokesman said the number of asylum seekers inside engaged in voluntary starvation was closer to 15 or 20.
"The protest is about the long delays in processing, and the unfairness and lack of transparency in the granting of visas," Mr Rintoul said, adding that many people had been waiting up to 22 months for answers, while other asylum seekers were released after only a few months in detention.
He said asylum seekers on the roof were holding banners and wearing t-shirts with a variety of slogans, saying: "we need help from humanitarian nation, we are human" and "we came here for peace and safety not being in the cage".
