A second detainee has joined the roof-top protest at the Villawood Detention Centre (photo attached).
The protest which began before 9.00am this morning (Monday 23 February) is over the move by the Immigration Department to forcibly transfer a Chinese couple from Villawood to Darwin, yesterday (Sunday 22 February).
The couple have been in detention around 14 months and the woman is now eight months pregnant.
The couple had refused to be transferred, but after separating the couple and hand-cuffing her husband, the woman was tricked into going to the Villawood property section, where she too was seized. The couple was then taken to the domestic airport.
Detainees at Villawood were told that the woman had collapsed at the airport and had been taken to hospital late yesterday. They were told that the couple would be brought to Villawood, but the couple has not been returned to Villawood.
The protesters have offered to come down if Serco or Immigration will make a call to the couple to determine their whereabouts.
So far Serco negotiators have refused to make the call, or to bring Immigration representatives to the protesters.
It seems almost certain, that Immigration has reneged on its undertaking that the couple would be brought to Villawood and has gone ahead and transferred the couple to Darwin.
The forced transfer seems to be part of the Immigration department attempt to consolidate detention in the Wickham Point detention centre.
The forced transfers have also been an element of the on-going hunger strikes in the Darwin detention centre. Asylum seekers have been re-detained and transferred from various parts of Australia to Darwin, separating them from partners, community and legal support.
“The welfare of the asylum seekers is the very last consideration of the Immigration Department,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
“It makes no sense to arbitrarily transfer asylum seekers to more remote detention centres. But it is particularly cruel to transfer a woman so close to giving birth from friends and community support in Sydney. As far as the Immigration department is concerned asylum seekers are nothing but numbers to shifted between detention centres at their convenience.”
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
