Asylum-seekers ‘led boy, 5, into Manus camp’

Peter Dutton says asylum seekers led five-year-old son of PNG navy member into Manus centre “for purposes unknown”.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says the Good Friday row on Manus Island is under investigation.

Asylum seekers allegedly led the five-year-old son of a Papua New Guinean navy member into the Manus Island regional processing centre ahead of last week’s violent exchange, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has confirmed.

The centre went into lockdown on Good Friday and a staff member and two asylum-seekers were injured. Drunken navy personnel fired up to 100 rounds of ammunition at asylum-seekers and staff.

An Australian staff member on the island, who declined to be named, told The Australian on Monday that tensions had been inflamed when three refugees from the Pakistani and Afghani communities allegedly led the boy into the centre “for purposes unknown”.

In a Sky News interview due to screen tonight, Mr Dutton said the incident caused “a lot of angst” among PNG locals already concerned over other sexual assault allegations.

Last month, a 28-year-old Pakistani refugee was charged over the alleged sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl in Lorengau, and in January another asylum-seeker was arrested and charged over the alleged assault of a 19-year-old student.

“There was concern about why the boy was being led, or for what purpose he was being led back to the regional processing centre, so I think it’s fair to say the mood had elevated quite quickly,” Mr Dutton said.

“I think some of the local residents were quite angry about this particular incident and another alleged sexual assault, so again, I don’t have the full details and those matters are under investigation.”

The staff member told The Australian the child had been quickly found and returned to outraged parents.

A Kurdish journalist on the island has disputed Mr Dutton’s and the staff member’s claims.

Behrouz Boochani, who has previously written articles about his experiences in immigration detention for Guardian Australia and Fairfax Media, said Mr Dutton was “lying”.

“We have just heard the Australian Immigration Minister say in an interview that the incident was sparked by asylum seekers taking a local boy into the processing centre,” he wrote conversations posted on Twitter.

“It’s a big lie and he wants to hide the truth.

“If the fight started because the refugees wanted to take a boy to the centre, why did the navy commander order that we cannot use the soccer ground?

“I have been researching about the incident in the past few days and it’s the first time I head anything about a small boy. Definitely he is lying and he wants to deny that he has responsibility for refugees.”

The fate of the more than 800 asylum-seekers housed on Manus remains uncertain, with the Australian government prom­ising to close the centre by October 31, and no guarantees on how many refugees will pass President ­Donald Trump’s “extreme vetting” process and be allowed to resettle in the US.

The staff member told T he Australian on Monday Friday’s fight had initially broken out on a sporting oval on the naval base between a group of African ­asylum-seekers, who were playing soccer, and naval personnel, who asked them to leave, citing the naval commander’s orders.

The refugees then allegedly threw rocks at navy personnel and security staff who were called to take them back to the centre, and a refugee was treated for minor injuries after a navy member retaliated.

PNG police have since confirmed that a group of drunken navy personnel then attacked the processing centre, with at least one of them repeatedly firing an automatic weapon in the direction of staff and the centre.

A PNG immigration officer and an asylum-seeker were treated for minor injuries at the centre’s medical clinic and discharged.