AUSTRALIA: THOUSANDS RALLY IN MAJOR CITIES TO URGE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO CLOSE REFUGEE DETENTION CENTRES

Record ID: 574536

  • Title: AUSTRALIA: THOUSANDS RALLY IN MAJOR CITIES TO URGE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO CLOSE REFUGEE DETENTION CENTRES
  • Date: 5th June 2001
  • Summary: (U1)SYDNEY AUSTRALIA (JUNE 3, 2001) (REUTERS) SLV /MV PROTESTERS MARCHING TOWARD DETENTION CENTRE; CARRYING BANNER; PROTESTERS CARRYING SIGNS; POLICE WATCHING PROTESTERS; POLICE LINE WATCHING PROTESTERS (3 SHOTS) MV PROTESTERS ARRIVING OUTSIDE VILLAWOOD DETENTION CENTRE; POLICE BEHIND BARRIER; SLV PROTESTERS OUTSIDE DETENTION CENTRE (9 SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) VOICE OF UNIDENTIFIED DETAINEE ON PHONE CALLING FROM CURTIN DETENTION CENTRE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA, DESCRIBING PROTESTS OCCURING THERE, SAYING "They are shouting for freedom protection, not detention, free all the refugees close the detention centres, stop demonising us and stop publishing lies against us." SMV POLICE ON HORSES; MV DETAINEES BEHIND WIRES / POLICE; POLICE AND PROTESTERS (6 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 20th June 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SYDNEY, MELBOURNE AND PORT HEDLAND, WOOMERA; AUSTRALIA
  • Country: Australia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9UL1TMB2883X2QFBR65645CFT
  • Story Text: Thousands of people have rallied in Australia's major cities to urge the Federal Government to close controversial refugee detention centres condemned as a breach of human rights.
    Hundreds of protesters rallied outside Sydney's Villawood immigration centre on Sunday (June 3) as part of a national day of action against the detention of asylum seekers.
    The Refugee Action Collection-organised protest, demanded all immigration detention centres be closed.
    Escorted by police, demonstrators marched from Villawood train station in Sydney's west to the centre.
    Speakers addressed the crowd calling for the immediate closure of the camps. The protesters also heard from a detainee at Curtin detention Centre in Western Australia, the scene of a riot on Friday (June 1).
    The unidentified speaker said in a telephone call that, although scared by security guards with video cameras, detainees had called for "freedom" and "protection, not detention" and called for the detention centres to be closed."
    Friday's riot involved more than 200 asylum seekers who went on a rampage at the Curtin Detention Centre in Western Australia's far north after some detainees were told they were to be deported.
    Staff at the 800-bed centre had to use tear gas to disperse rioters, and four people suffered self-inflicted injuries while damaging fences and buildings.
    The centre's operations manager was attacked and the video camera he was using smashed in the riot.
    Last weekend, 22 detainees of the Port Hedland Detention Centre were charged over a riot in May in which police also used tear gas to quell the violence.
    The federal government has, however, defended its immigration programme, saying that the process is necessary to ensure that arrivals have a lawful basis for being in Australia.
    Protests were held in all major Australian capital cities, with numbers ranging from 50 in Perth to an estimated 3000 in Melbourne.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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