Further unrest among detainees on Christmas Island is due to the Australian government holding people in “inhumane” conditions, refugee advocates have said. There were riots on Tuesday night that resulted in two compounds being set alight and advocates and detainees claim a further disturbance on Saturday evening involved fires, rubber bullets and the use of tear gas at the detention centre. “The federal government has a policy of keeping detainees in harsh and inhumane conditions to force them to leave Australia – this disturbance should not be a surprise to our leaders,” he said. In August, the federal government announced it was reopening the detention centre on Christmas Island, saying its ability to remove unlawful non-citizens from Australia had been curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic. Guardian Australia has contacted border force, Serco and the Australian Federal Police for comment.

Source: The Guardian January 10, 2021 06:56 UTC