Protesters clash with police at asylum-seekers' camp
Protesters and police clashed today near a remote detention centre for illegal immigrants in southern Australia.
Scuffles broke out as dozens of officers, some on horseback, forced demonstrators to move their camp further away from the Baxter detention centre.
At least three people were arrested. The protesters’ camp, which was about a mile from the centre, was moved about half a mile further away.
A similar protest last Easter at another detention centre erupted into violent clashes and a mass break-out of asylum seekers.
Organisers said 3,000 people from all over Australia were heading for Port Augusta, home to the Baxter centre, to protest against the government’s policy of detaining asylum seekers caught sneaking into the country.
Busloads of protesters arrived throughout the day. Some, like Grant van Riessen from Western Australia state, had travelled thousands of miles.
“No distance is too far,” van Riessen said.
At last year’s demonstrations at the Woomera detention camp in the remote Outback, protesters fought with police and smashed fences, allowing 50 people to escape from the former British missile testing base.
Woomera, which became a symbol for Australia’s immigration policy and a focus of protests, was closed down yesterday.
The government launched its crackdown in August 2001, using navy patrol boats to intercept smugglers and other measures to significantly reduce the flow of illegal immigration.
