Australians have shown very little patience with a small flow of illegal immigrants paying for boats to take them from Indonesia to a small Australian island in the Indian Ocean. Most of the boat people, as they are called derisively in Australia, are reported to be Iranians and Iraqis, though there are also many other nationalities as well.
On March 17, parts of the Christmas Island detention center, where asylum-seekers who survived the tragic December 15 boat crash that killed nearly 50 were detained, was set on fire. The Australian reported that 300 asylum-seekers and staff had to take cover in the gymnasium to escape one of the most violent riots the center had witnessed. Among the reported violations were two men who were charged with escaping and three who were accused of sexually assaulting another detainee.
Then in June, another riot broke out in the detention center when a detainee who had been told he would not be granted refugee status refused to be moved to a high-security isolation unit. At least 100 rioters armed with concrete, metal poles, sporting equipment and roof tiles advanced towards the guards who wanted to move him and another detainee.
“Whilst throwing rocks in the direction of police, the protestors were also wearing cloths and towels over their heads and faces in an attempt to avoid exposure to CS [tear] gas or other use-of-force options available to police,” said Steve Lancaster, Deputy Police Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police. Lancaster said there may have been up to 250 rioters and that police had to call in 70 extra officers for backup. Police resorted to capsicum spray and “bean-bag” bullets to contain the rioters.
Amother period of rioting erupted in July.
About 30 male detainees have been charged for the riot in March, and more than a dozen for June’s repeat with offenses such as assault, affray, destruction of state property and manufacturing weapons.
Authorities blame the rising number of Iranians arriving on refugee boats over the last few months for organizing the violent detention center uprisings. They hope severe consequences, including new rules that ban asylum-seekers from getting permanent protection visas if convicted of an offense, will deter future violence.
The Australian public is very hostile to the boat people, despite the fact that they have numbered only a few thousand over the last decade. But the organizers of the boat trips, who charge stiff fees, do not convey the fact that the refugees are unwelcome in Australia. Two organizers of the boat flotillas arrested recently are both Iranians.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said there are “a lot” of people not considered legitimate refugees in detention. “That does lead to some degree of consternation and frustration within our detention network,” he said.
Figures show the rejection rate has dramatically increased in the last year with only 27 percent of asylum-seekers being accepted on the first try in the last six months as compared with 74 percent approval in 2009-2010. While more than three-fourths get their rejections overturned, the longer detention times has begun to take a toll on detainees. But the rioting further feeds public anger at the boat people.
Two men, said to be from Kuwait, whose asylum claims were denied, stayed for days on the Christmas Island center’s roof after repeated attempts to talk them down following the June 9 riot. Three guards have reported other attacks by detainees, including one who alleged an Iranian poured boiling water on him.
