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PNG police start forcibly evicting asylum seekers from camp: Witnesses

Thursday, 23 November 2017 7:30 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 23 November 2017 7:30 AM ]

Papua New Guinean police officers enter the Manus Island immigration detention center in Papua New Guinea, November 23, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

Police in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have raided a detention camp formerly run by Australia on the Manus Island, using force to evict hundreds of asylum seekers who have been refusing to leave the facility for more than three weeks.

The individuals in the camp said authorities had broken into the former detention center early on Thursday and destroyed the refugees’ shelters, beds, and other belongings, forcing around 400 men there to leave for alternative accommodation elsewhere on the island.

The asylum seekers, who have barricaded themselves in the Manus camp for 23 days, said police pulled their belongings from their rooms and seized the food and water they had stockpiled.

Destroyed items are seen in a former detention center on Manus Island, on Papua New Guinea, on November 23, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

“Men are being forcibly removed by bus, apparently to other centers,” and many refugees climb onto rooftops and hide in toilets to avoid the police, according to a witness.

Reports said police also arrested a refugee who had been acting as a de facto spokesman for the detainees and regularly talking to news outlets by phone about the conditions in the camp. The refugee had tweeted from inside the detention center earlier in the day that “police have started to break the shelters, water tanks and are saying move, move.”

“Navy soldiers are outside the prison camp. We are on high alert right now. We are under attack,” he said.

The police operation comes as the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has reaffirmed his government’s stance that none of the asylum seekers in the offshore camp would be brought to Australia.

Under a controversial refugee policy known as “Sovereign Borders,” Australia banishes any asylum seekers arriving irregularly by boat to offshore refugee camps. While the camp on Manus has been abandoned by Australian officials, another one, on Nauru, continues to operate.

An undated photo released on October 31, 2017 shows a makeshift water collecting system built by detainees inside the former detention center on Manus Island, in Papua New Guinea. (Via Reuters)

Earlier this week, the Australian Medical Association urged Canberra to allow doctors to help the refugees, warning there was a “worsening and more dangerous situation emerging on Manus.”

The Australian government abandoned around 600 male refugees at its detention center on Manus Island on October 31, invoking a PNG court ruling that the imprisonment of the refugees at the Australian-run camp was unlawful.

Some 200 asylum seekers eventually were transited to the new facilities, but the rest stayed put despite worsening conditions and a lack of food, water, and electricity.

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