Riot in Indian Ocean detention centre for asylum-seekers after man dies

The immigration department confirmed there was a “major disturbance” at the detention centre on the Australian territory of Christmas Island.

Another detainee, who stressed that he had not been involved in the riots, said “most of the compounds have actually been broken into, including the medical [compound]”.

Australia’s Immigration Department said authorities regained control largely through negotiation, but a hardened group of criminals resisted.

Australian authorities dispatched reinforcements to the Christmas Island detention center, located in the Indian Ocean south of the Indonesian island of Java, after protesters set several fires, forcing the guards and other staffers to abandon the facility.

The extent of damage to the centre had not been assessed, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection said in a statement, but a few common areas appeared to have been “severely damaged”.

New Zealand lawmaker Kelvin Davis, who recently visited the island, said a New Zealander held at the facility told him that detainees had taken over the center.

Australia implemented a mandatory policy last year to cancel visas and deport anybody who has been sentenced to prison for more than a year.

“These people will have to pay for the damage they have caused through the criminal courts”, Mr Dutton said.

Mr Chegeni was found dead after he tried to escape the centre on Saturday.

Iranian-Kurdish refugee Fazal Chegeni … his body found at the base of a cliff.

The additional police were sent to the remote Christmas Island facility after inmates started fires and apparently armed themselves in a protest triggered late Sunday by the unexplained death of a detainee.

But opposition Greens Party Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who said that the center was “in meltdown”, demanded that the government disclose the extent of the unrest and exercise restraint in responding to it.

John Key has told media that New Zealanders on Christmas Island were free to return to New Zealand before riots broke out.

The government outsources running of the centre to private contractor Serco.

The Department said the cause of death was unknown and is now the subject of a coronial inquiry. “So they had the run of the centre until guards were able go back in and the Australian Federal Police arrived”. “Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre is appropriately staffed for the detainees at the facility”.

Asylum seekers in the camp have often been intercepted en route for mainland Australia.