Protesters dressed as Australian politicians rallied outside a Melbourne hotel in protest, causing a rush hour traffic jam. About 60 refugees and asylum seekers are reported to be living in the hotel.
Protesters wearing masks of Australian Prime Minister Morrison and Home Affairs Minister Dutton locked themselves inside a cage on the roof of a truck that took up a lane outside the Park Hotel on Swanston St Road in the Carlton district this afternoon, News Corp Australia reported on Dec. 21.
The refugees, previously held at the Mantra Hotel in the Preston district, were relocated to the Park Hotel last week as the government’s contract with the hotel was set to expire, the report said.
About 20 police officers were on the scene and a streetcar was allowed to pass through the protest site.
Sam Castro, a protester from the Whistleblowers, Activists and Communities Alliance, said that at least 200 protesters had come and that they planned to protest for “quite some time.
She said, “It’s the politicians who are violating international law, and someone should do something about these refugees whose human rights are being violated in prison hotels, and other onshore and offshore detention camps.”
“There are detainees who we saw at one window making crossed arms and loving gestures to everyone – it’s just cruel what they’re going through.”
Mostafa Azimitabar, one of the detained refugees, described the new accommodations at the Park Hotel as “horrible,” according to the report.
He said, “In the previous Mantra Hotel, I had a window where I could see people. I think it’s part of their plan to not let the people outside who are smiling at us and waving at us see us, and there are no windows here.”
The refugees were sent to Australia after the Refugee Medical Care Act, which allows refugees and asylum seekers detained offshore to be transferred to Australia for medical help, came into effect in March last year, the report said.
But the law has since been repealed and these refugees are now in a dilemma. The Morrison government wants them to leave again and return to Papua New Guinea or resettle in other countries, including the United States.
Australia’s acting immigration minister, Alan Tudge, said earlier this year that the refugees should return to Manus, Nauru or their home countries “unless they are accepted and resettled in the United States.
“We’ll hold them in hotel detention until they’ve made one of those choices, and that’s what we want them to do,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “We’ve been clear all along that these people have no permanent right to enter Australia …… they’ve been treated and now by law they have a right to return home.”
Recent Comments