“There’s an operation underway”.
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The riot was sparked after a small group of Iranian detainees staged a protest over the death of escapee Fazel Chegeni Najad, an Iranian Kurdish man, on Sunday on November, 10.
“It is a hardened criminal population that occupies the immigration detention centre on Christmas Island and people who think that they can act outside of the law have another thing coming”.
The Immigration Department insisted that there was “no large-scale riot” but that the centre remained tense.
CCTV images appear to show two detainees, one armed with a machete, lighting and throwing a petrol bomb.
“It was just a matter of time, all of us knew it. It was a matter of time because of the way they treat people”, the detainee said.
He said although there was no information or evidence to suggest that anyone had been involved in the death, the detainees immediately became suspicious of the involvement of guards from the center’s management company, Serco.
The centre is run by controversial private prison operator Serco, which hit headlines in New Zealand this year after a series of scandals emerged at Mt Eden prison. The unrest have not only injured five detainees but also caused damage estimated at $1 million to the facility.
Significant damage at the camp, including at the medical facility, was reported by local media who believe at least 200 inmates took part in the protest.
Prisoners barricaded themselves inside a compound and had started fires in the buildings.
Rintoul said asylum seekers had found ways to contact advocates and inform them of problematic issues, but of late raids were mounted to confiscate refugees’ phones.
“The Australians aren’t interested in negotiating a peaceful resolution… they’ve gone to the expense of flying over reinforcements who’ve got to earn their money”.
“Mr Davis, if you want to put yourself on the side of sex offenders, go ahead, my son, but we’ll defend New Zealanders!”
Australian officials were working Monday to contain unrest at a remote detention center for asylum seekers in the Indian Ocean.
Under Canberra’s tough immigration policy, asylum-seekers arriving by boat are processed on isolated Pacific islands – Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island – rather than the Australian mainland.
Mr Dutton told ABC that the asylum seekers held at the compound with the convicted criminals – including New Zealand nationals – were only sent there after risk assessments.
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Earlier today, Opposition spokesman Richard Marles said there were serious questions about the government’s handling of what it initially labelled “a disturbance”.
