Australia’s Immigration Department said authorities regained control largely through negotiation, but a hardened group of criminals resisted.
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New Zealand opposition lawmaker Kelvin Davis, who last month visited the centre, said he had been told the disturbance began after a detainee who questioned guards about the death was punched in the face.
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.
Later, according to the immigration department, “other detainees took advantage of the situation to engage in property damage and general unrest”.
Peter Dutton said five detainees were injured, but could not confirm reports that police had used rubber bullets.
Guards from private security contractor Serco had been forced to retreat from the centre compound on Sunday night after angry confrontations reportedly stemming from an initial fight that broke out between a Serco “emergency response team (ERT)” and a group of Iranian detainees agitated over the fate of Chegeni.
The policy of mandatory detention has been criticised by the United Nations refugee agency, which has described the measures as “inhumane”.
AN Iranian Kurdish asylum seeker who died outside Christmas Island’s detention centre may have suffered fatal injuries from falling into a trench surrounding the facility, the shire president says.
Detainees, a few of whom are non-resident criminals awaiting deportation, have complained about their treatment at the facility.
The statement denied a “large-scale riot” was taking place but said the situation at the centre for refugees and asylum seekers was “tense”.
Access to the center is hard because journalists are not often authorized to travel there and workers on the island are restricted in what they can say publicly.
Mr Chegeni was found to be a refugee but was convicted of assaulting another detainee at the Curtin detention centre. Gas canisters have been allegedly fired off, rubber pellets have been allegedly fired off. One guy claims to have been hit in the leg by one…the guys that I spoke to were in their cell, barricading themselves and keeping themselves safe.
Detainees at a remote Australian-run holding center for asylum seekers have ended a violent two-day demonstration that was sparked by the death of an Iranian-born asylum seeker.
Australia sends intercepted asylum seekers to Christmas Island, Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and Nauru in the South Pacific.
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However, Australia has come under repeated criticism for its harsh policies from numerous local and global human rights organizations. A group of detainees, believed to be non-citizens whose visas have been cancelled, continues to agitate and cause damage to the facility, the department said.
