Authorities deployed two planeloads of specialist police reinforcements to control the unrest in which parts of the detention center had been set on fire and dozens of detainees have armed themselves with machetes and iron bars to confront the police.
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Immigration minister Peter Dutton defended the use of “reasonable” force by police, saying they responded appropriately, including towards an inmate said to have had a chainsaw.
There are a few 200 detainees, the majority being immigrants with criminal records awaiting deportation, besides refugees and asylum seekers on Christmas Island and the predominant nationalities are Iranian, New Zealand, and Vietnamese. His body was discovered by search and rescue teams on Sunday at the bottom of cliffs away from the centre, the department said.
While police said Chegeni’s death was not treated as suspicious, several detainees told local media they believed security guards were involved in his death.
The immigration department said staff at the centre would sweep all compounds to search for contraband such as weapons before detainees were moved back into normal accommodation.
The MP said on Paul Henry that he had talked to detainees in the island and said Kiwis will most likely take the rap for causing the riots that broke out on Monday morning.
Chegeni’s death will be investigated by a coroner on Sunday.
Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition, said Mr. Chegeni arrived in Australia in 2010, and had been granted refugee status.
The Christmas Island Immigration Detention Center reported him missing Saturday.
The Māori Party has also criticised the Government over the Christmas Island detainees’ debacle, specifically ex-Kiwi soldier Ko Rutene.
Photos of ransacked and torched offices, smashed windows, a trashed laundry and damaged walls give the first proper look inside the immigration detention centre since inmates began protesting after the death of a fellow detainee in recent days.
Mr Dutton told the ABC that the asylum seekers held at the compound with the convicted criminals – including the New Zealand nationals – were only sent there after risk assessments.
Dutton said there are now 203 people at the Christmas Island Detention centre with no women or children held.
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Asylum seekers who pay people smugglers to take them in rickety boats to Australia from Indonesia are detained on Christmas Island and on the impoverished Pacific island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
