[WATCH] Manus island: police storm island refugee camp

A deteriorating humanitarian crisis... Papua New guinean police and immigration officers are entering the former detention centre in an attempt to move all detainees out

Police authorities have entered the detention centre (Photo: Scoopnest)
Police authorities have entered the detention centre (Photo: Scoopnest)

A police operation is under way on Manus Island, with Papua New Guinean police and immigration officers entering the former detention centre to try and move detainees out, more than three weeks into a deteriorating humanitarian crisis.

Refugees inside the centre reported that numbers of officers, including the paramilitary police mobile squad, have entered and given them an hour to leave. The officers shouted at detainees and demanded they hand over their phones.

Refugees described police as intimidating and aggressive as they dismantled structures and threw away refugees’ belongings. One officer was seen carrying a large bush knife.

A video, which was livestreamed from inside the facility showed men chanting “human rights help us, they want to kill us”, and two men apparently unconscious.

Walid Zazai, who was filming the scene, said it was a medical emergency but they had no assistance.

“We don’t know if he had a heart attack because he previously had problems,” Zazai said.

The second unconscious man had epilepsy, he said.

Iranian journalist and refugee Behrouz Boochani was arrested as police and immigration officials swept through the camp, destroying furniture, property and food.

Footage shows Boochani being led away, held by two uniformed policemen, and surrounded by several others. He does not physically resist.

Other refugees said police were specifically looking for him.

Boochani has been the most outspoken advocate for the refugees held on Manus Island, filing reports regularly for news outlets and giving interviews with media across the world.

On Thursday morning, Peter Dutton, Australia’s immigration minister, confirmed a “police operation” and accused the detainees of trashing it.

“I think it’s outrageous that people are still there,” he told 2GB radio. “They’ve trashed the facility, they’re living in squalor.”

“The Australian taxpayers have paid about $10m for a new facility and we want people to move.”

He likened the situation to building a new house for tenants who refuse to move in.

Dutton’s repeated claims that the alternative accommodation units are ready and suitable for detainees have been consistently debunked by observers and published videos and photos of blocked toilets, bathrooms without water, and buildings still under construction. Detainees have repeatedly claimed they are not safe in the new housing in Lorengau, citing frequent violent attacks and a lack of security.

The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, repeated the messages of his immigration minister, and said the refugees should leave the centre and go to the alternative accommodation where “several hundred” had already moved.

 “They should obey the law and the lawful authorities of Papua New Guinea,” said Turnbull. “There are alternative facilities that have been made available with food, water, security, and medical services.”

Turnbull also said those inside the centre were hoping to force the Australian government into bringing them all to Australia. “We will not be pressured,” he said. “Our border security, the integrity of our borders is maintained by my government and we will not outsource our migration policy to people smugglers.”

Some refugees have taken shelter on roofs inside the decommissioned detention centre. Some had been sleeping on top of shipping containers, in expectation the police would move in.

Video from the Sudanese refugee Abdul Aziz Adam showed immigration officials in yellow shirts surrounded by uniformed police. It showed one police officer issuing instructions over a megaphone to the 380 men barricaded inside. “This place where you are living right now is no longer legal centre for the refugees and non-refugees reside,” the officer says. “This place will be handed back to the PNG defence force.

“It is their military base, and your staying here … would be seen as illegal and unlawful.

Police originally planned to launch its “Operation Helpim Friends” on Wednesday, but it was cancelled pending a court appeal, now adjourned to 15 December. The police commissioner, Gari Baki, described the operation as “politely” asking the detainees to leave, and said no force would be used.

An Australian federal police spokesman denied earlier reports its officers were involved. He said their one liaison officer there was not linked to Thursday’s action.

Amnesty International said serious injuries were entirely foreseeable, and the PNG government was “knowingly placing the refugees at risk”. Amnesty’s Pacific researcher, Kate Schuetze said: “There is no justification for this action.

“International law and standards demand that refugees enjoy international protection. The country where they sought refuge – Australia – has violated their rights at every turn. PNG has aided and enabled Australia’s policy of cruelty and degradation of the refugees.”