Peter Dutton denies ‘a pregnant protest’ by asylum-seekers

Peter Dutton has denied claims by asylum-seeker advocates and detainees that five pregnant women and two men staged protests.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has denied claims by asylum-seeker advocates and detainees that five pregnant women and two men staged protests on the roof of Darwin’s Wickham Point immigration detention centre yesterday.

Sources inside and outside the compound said the women had climbed on the roof to protest against plans to send one of them and a family with infant children to Nauru, before joining about 50 other detainees in threatening to burn the centre down.

A spokeswoman for Mr Dutton said most of the claims were incorrect. “Nobody has been on the roofs at Wickham Point Immigration Detention Facility today. These are yet more mischievous and inaccurate claims made by advocates and detainees,” she said. “Claims we were sending a pregnant woman offshore are incorrect. No woman who was pregnant was due to be transferred.”

There were unconfirmed reports of scuffles between detainees and detention centre staff, of an old man being punched in the face by guards and detainees threatening self-harm.

No further information was provided by spokespeople in relation to those claims. The renewed unrest followed a disturbance on Wednesday that led to property damage. Leaked video purportedly from the ­disturbance showed detainees screaming; leaked photos showed a large number of detainees forming a blockade in the compound.

The unrest comes as news emerged yesterday that refugees rejected by Australia will soon fly from the Pacific atoll of Nauru to be resettled in Cambodia. A charter flight could take the first refugees to be resettled in Phnom Penh as early as Monday, according to a copy of a fact sheet that the Refugee Action Collective advocacy group said had been circulated at Nauru.

Mr Dutton’s office did not specify when the first group would fly, under a bilateral agreement signed by Cambodia and Australia last September. “The first group of volunteers is anticipated to depart for Cambodia in the near future,” his office said in a statement.

The agreement specifies that all refugees who leave the Australia-run detention camp on Nauru must be volunteers. The fact sheet, distributed by Australian officials, tells refugees “Cambodia is a safe country where police maintain law and order”.

The International Organisation for Migration was sending an official to Nauru “with an expectation of possible movements in the coming days,” IOM’s Bangkok-based spokesman Joe Lowry said yesterday.

IOM will start a cultural orientation process on Nauru for refugees who want to go to Cambodia, and help them find housing, jobs and learn the language once they arrive.

The deal with Cambodia has been condemned by human rights groups.

Refugee Action Collective spokesman Ian Rintoul said he had heard of no one on Nauru ­accepting the deal.

“I do know they spoke to Somalis yesterday and said it was the last day for them to agree, and none of them agreed,” he said.

Additional reporting: AP