Hundreds protest in Melbourne in support of refugees

Hundreds of protesters gathered in Melbourne on Sunday in support of asylum seekers being held in transit centers on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

Protesters held banners and chanted under heavy police presence in Melbourne. They blocked traffic at an intersection.

Meanwhile, Papua New Guinea (PNG)’s police say they have relocated all the asylum seekers who had refused to leave a decommissioned refugee detention camp for fear of facing violence elsewhere.

The camp, located on the PNG’s Manus Island, used to be run by Australia. On October 31, however, Australian officials suddenly abandoned the refugees at the center, invoking a PNG court ruling that the camp was illegal.

Hundreds of male refugees then barricaded themselves at the camp, where food, water, electricity, and medical services had also been cut.

The unprotected refugees feared violence at alternative accommodation centers, where machete-wielding locals had several times gathered to express their opposition to the presence of the refugees on the island.

PNG had announced that Australia had a responsibility to resettle the refugees after abandoning the camp, but Canberra took no action.

SS