Illegal Chinese immigrants pulled doors from their hinges and trashed furniture in a violent protest at an Australian detention center, authorities said yesterday.
The unrest, involving up to 20 illegal meatworkers from China, broke out at the immigration center in Melbourne late on Monday, immigration officials said.
A spokesman said detainees “became aggressive,” smashing furniture, ripping off doors and telephones and damaging a pool table over several hours.
Emergency authorities were placed on standby outside the center, but staff inside managed to bring the unrest under control.
No one was injured.
DAMAGE
The damage was estimated at US$5,000, the immigration department said.
It was unclear why the unrest broke out, but refugee advocate Ian Rintoul said many detainees in Australia’s mainland immigration centers were Chinese who faced an uncertain future.
TECHNICALITIES
“They spend a long time in detention waiting for decisions on their refugee claim,” Rintoul said.
“There’s a lack of transparency, and many of them are getting caught up in the technicalities of making a claim,” he said.
Rintoul said the prospect of returning to China was notably unsettling for those who considered themselves democracy activists or were followers of the Falun Gong religious group.
Australia’s refugee policy has come under renewed scrutiny in recent weeks, especially after five asylum seekers died and dozens more were injured in an explosion on a boat off the northwest coast last week.
CRITICISM
Last year, the center-left government scrapped a widely criticized system that often resulted in asylum seekers, including children, being locked up for years.
The opposition conservatives have blamed the softer policy for an increase in the number of boatpeople making for Australia’s shores.
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