Julie Bishop slams asylum seekers refusing to leave the closed Manus Island detention centre
A STAND-off between asylum seekers inside Manus Island detention centre and PNG authorities is heating up, with reports one man has harmed himself.
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ONE asylum seeker has reportedly harmed himself with a razor as the standoff between immigration officials and hundreds of men refusing to leave Manus Island detention centre heats up.
Papua New Guinea immigration officials are attempting to negotiate with asylum seekers who remain inside the centre, which closed last night.
Behrouz Boochani, an asylum seeker inside the facility, has reported one man has cut his wrists and chest as authorities asked the 600 men inside to leave.
The man was physically fine after treatment but was still mentally “out of control,” he said.
Mr Boochani said the officials had provided a bus to take the men to new accommodation in the Lorengau township but they were still refusing to go.
Greens senator Nick McKim, who travelled to the island to monitor the detention centre shutdown, has been refused entry to the facility by the PNG Navy.
He was told he would be arrested if he did not leave the site, according to Mr Boochani.
Earlier, the men were vowing to endure starvation and “resist peacefully” any attempts to remove them.
“Refugees still refusing to leave prison camp until safe place to go. Saying they’ll resist peacefully & endure starvation & harsh conditions,” Mr Boochani posted on Twitter.
There is not water, power and food. Even the toilets do not work. People gathering in stress. Any time we expect that someone attack us
— Behrouz Boochani (@BehrouzBoochani) October 31, 2017
Refugees still refusing to leave prison camp until safe place to go. Saying they'll resist peacefully & endure starvation & harsh conditions
— Behrouz Boochani (@BehrouzBoochani) October 31, 2017
Some refugees are very sick.They need urgent medical treatment. They have been physically sick for a long time.There is no support for them.
— Behrouz Boochani (@BehrouzBoochani) October 31, 2017
Mr Boochani said the situation was getting worse, after generators were removed this morning and the toilets stopped working.
“There is not water, power and food. Even the toilets do not work. People gathering in stress,” he said.
“Any time we expect that someone attack us.”
A number of the men were very sick and needed urgent medical attention, he said.
Papua New Guinea immigration officials arrived to speak with the asylum seekers outside the centre before 10am local time.
Acting Prime Minister Julie Bishop has responded to the ongoing stand-off this morning, slamming claims the men could not leave because they were afraid for their safety.
All of the men, including those who were not genuine refugees, had been provided with alternate accommodation, Ms Bishop said.
“It makes no sense for them to stay where they are and they will not be resettled in Australia,” she said told ABC radio.
“They have a number of options available to them.”
Greens leader Richard Di Natale said the asylum seekers were storing water in garbage bins.
Senator Di Natale told Sky News he feared for an outbreak of disease if the situation continued.
Tamil refugee Srirangan told AAP yesterday refugees were concerned about dehydration but feared for their lives as well, with troops from PNG expected to arrive on Wednesday.
He said the buildings has also become too hot to be in and “many of us are outside ... and will have to sleep on the ground”.
Another Tamil refugee, Ravi, told AAP by phone detainees were trying to collect water in bins and containers but “there had been no rain”.
Authorities in PNG have said they will move refugees and asylum seekers into purpose-built accommodation in the nearby town of Lorengau.
But a UNHCR representative on Manus Island has said at least one of the sites is not yet ready.
West Lorengau Haus still had heavy machinery on the site and there were no fences in place as yet, he told ABC this morning.
“I will not be bringing any refugees there. It is not ready at the moment,” he said.
The East Lorengau Refugee Transit Centre was ready but could only house up to 400 men at a stretch.
“If everyone were to voluntarily leave, I think there’s no capacity to house everyone,” the representative said.
Hussein, originally from Iraqi Kurdistan, also said the facility wasn’t ready and that locals had blocked and protested its construction.
He added that some had looted tents, tables, boxes, fire alarms, fans, air conditioners and “whatever they saw” from Manus on Tuesday.
PNG lawyer representing the detainees, Ben Lomai, said he lodged a legal application to block the centre’s closure on Tuesday.
The constitution in PNG held enforceable protections for human rights, which Mr Lomai said had been breached.
Greens senator Nick McKim is on the island and spoke with centre occupants on Tuesday afternoon.
“They still believe that despite everything that’s happened to them at the detention centre it remains the least unsafe place for them to be,” he said, adding that he believed there was still a 150-bed shortfall at alternative facilities.
The Lombrum centre was forced to close after the PNG Supreme Court ruled in April 2016 that Australia’s detention of refugees and asylum seekers there was illegal and unconstitutional.
Six detainees have died on Manus Island — including one who was murdered — since it was reopened in 2012.
Originally published as Julie Bishop slams asylum seekers refusing to leave the closed Manus Island detention centre