Hunger strike continues at immigration detention centers across Australia
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Xinhua, July 24, 2011
More asylum seekers on Sunday joined hunger strikes at immigration detention center in Queensland and another facility in Darwin of Australia.
It is believed up to 100 men at the Scherger Immigration Detention Center near Weipa of Queensland are now taking part in the protest, which began last Thursday.
Ten Afghan detainees are also having hunger strike protest on the roof of Darwin's detention center in Northern Territory. The roof protest started on Friday.
Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul said both groups of men are angry over the time it is taking to process their asylum applications.
Rintoul appealed for help, saying it is an "urgent situation".
"We would be quite willing to put the money up to get Bob Brown from the Greens, to get Andrew Wilkie, to get Rob Oakeshott. even Bob Katter [up there]," he told ABC News on Sunday..
"Because we do need independent eyes to report what is actually happening inside Scherger and why you have got so many people willing to take these desperate measures to put their claims before the Government, to put their pleas to the Australian public. "
Meanwhile, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the situation highlights problems within the Scherger facility.
"The situation there is dire. I have been following the case of the young man who took his life there several months ago," she said.
"It is not good enough that we are seeing people, particularly young people, taking their own lives after they have come to Australia seeking our protection and our help."
The protest came as the federal government is expected to finalize the refugee swap deal with Malaysia on Monday. The deal will see Malaysia take up to 800 asylum seekers arriving by boat, in return for Australia accepting 4,000 processed refugees.
Last week, a group between 20 to 40 asylum seekers started a protest in Christmas Island detention center that resulted in significant damage to property. Mattresses and a temporary building were set on fire, before federal police moved in to quell the violence using gas and bean bag bullets.
