These men are not hotel guests, but refugees and asylum seekers who have been in Australian immigration custody for seven years. The standoff between cellphone-armed protesters and security guards has cast unwanted attention on an Australian immigration policy that has long been, by definition, focused offshore. In March, due to the pandemic, more space was needed for social distancing in Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation (BITA), the main immigration detention center on the city's outskirts. Saif Ali Saif peers out from his hotel room balcony where he has hung images of his three-year-old son. Protesters chanted for guards to allow refugee Saif Ali Saif to hug his son.

Source: CNN June 20, 2020 01:07 UTC