protesters stormed the Darwin offices of the Department Immigration and Citizenship after the shock deportation of six West Papuan refugees to Port Moresby. The small group held placards and chanted “stop the deportations' before they entered the Cavanagh St office at lunch time today. Protester Vaughn Williams met a wall of silence as he asked Departmental staff why they were sending West Papuan activists back to Indonesia. "Have you heard of the TNI or Kopassus? Are you sending them back to be killed?' he asked. "The Papuans helped us in World War II.' Departmental worker Katya Peart told the protesters to put their concerns in writing as she evicted them from the office. Project co-ordinator Sophie Edwards, 29, of Larrakeyah, said Australia had an obligation to protect West Papuan asylum seekers. "It is quite shocking,' she said. The group of Papuans including a woman and a 10-year-old child fled in a tinnie to Boigu Island in the Torres Strait on Tuesday. The Department of Immigration has refused to answer any questions about them and has deported them to the Papua New Guinean capital within 48 hours. They landed in the Papua New Guinean capital this morning. Asylum seeker advocates fear they may be deported straight back to Indonesia as Papua New Guinea signed an extradition treaty with Indonesia in June, a month before Kevin Rudd announced Australia would process and resettle asylum seekers in the Pacific nation
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 09:59:55 +0000
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