Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told reporters that the operation to regain control of the centre had faced a few resistance, but focused blame primarily on violent criminal detainees rather than asylum seekers.
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One man, New Zealander Tuk Whakatutu, said earlier yesterday the detainees had retreated into one of the detention centre’s compounds after they were surrounded by police in riot gear.
“A full survey of damage to the center is yet to be completed, but a few common areas appear to be severely damaged”, Dutton said.
“These are the people that the Labour Party are saying are more important to support than New Zealanders who deserve protecting when they come back here”.
The revelation comes as Australia removed seven New Zealanders from the Christmas Island detention centre and transfered them to a high-maximum prison in Western Australia, where they may face prosecution.
Fazel Chegeni, an Iranian Kurd, reportedly escaped from the detention facility on Friday.
On Sunday, a detainee at Australia’s Christmas Island detention center was founded dead at the bottom of a cliff.
“The protest action began when a small group of Iranian detainees took part in a peaceful protest following the escape from, and death outside the centre, of a detainee on Sunday”, the department said in a statement Monday afternoon.
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.
Detainees not participating in the unrest were moved to a secure part of the facility.
More would follow as the government was determined to bring the perpetrators of the damage to justice, he said.
The government outsources running of the centre to private contractor Serco.
Guards were forced to flee the facility for “safety reasons” after fires were started at the complex by inmates who barricaded themselves inside.
He also emphasised the criminal convictions of 113 of the 199 detainees, stating that “the vast majority of people within the Christmas Island detention centre are serious criminals”.
“Fazel’s tortured history and his repeated suicide attempts speak to the fact that he should not have been on Christmas Island and subjected to the treatment he has received”, said Rintour.
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As well as asylum seekers, Christmas Island’s facility has increasingly been used to hold non-citizens awaiting deportation, including criminals after Canberra began cancelling visas of those with criminal records.
