asylumseekers refusing to go to png

Bouncers' convince asylum-seekers to go

by: Paige Taylor
From: The Australian
August 23, 2013 12:00AM

EMERGENCY Response Team guards known as "bouncers" were called in to deal with a group of male asylum-seekers on Christmas Island who refused to go to Papua New Guinea on Wednesday as other detainees yesterday continued a hunger strike.

Outward signs of malcontent among asylum-seekers subject to Labor's PNG Solution are growing. As Australian Federal Police last night prepared to help transfer a 10th group to Manus Island, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship confirmed protesting was under way inside the islands' compounds.

The Australian has been told the protesters have been refusing food for at least two days.

"A small number of clients are currently engaged in a low level, passive protest at North West Point (detention centre) on Christmas Island," a spokesman for the department said.

The Australian territory has become a waiting room for asylum-seekers who have been told they will never be settled in Australia under the new policy announced on July 19. The government has sent detainees who arrived before the PNG Solution to the mainland on charter flights, partly to reduce crowding.
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The number of asylum-seekers on the island reached a record 4000 last month but the compounds are now operating below contingency capacity.

Last night there were 2513 people in immigration detention on Christmas Island, including 119 crew.

On Wednesday morning, as government contractor Serco prepared 40 men for transfer to Manus Island that night, some of them said they would not go. The Immigration Department declined to discuss the incident yesterday for operational reasons but guards said senior officers from the department and from Serco spoke to the men.

The Emergency Response Team moved the men to the detention centre's Red Block with caged outdoor areas.

By that time, The Australian has been told, the men had said they would go to Manus Island that night.

"When the bouncers move in, they usually co-operate," one worker said.

A charter plane landed on Christmas Island and collected the 40 men.