BY SARAH STEPHEN
& RUPEN SAVOULIAN
PERTH — Thirty-five people held a spirited protest outside the immigration detention centre at Perth airport on April 21. The protest was organised by the Refugee Rights Action Network (RRAN). The protesters circled the perimeter of the detention centre, a building surrounded by a solid wall topped with electrified razor wire.
The only way to contact the refugees, apart from the main entrance, was through a loading bay area at the side. The crowd chanted "Free the refugees". Some protesters called out in Persian, Arabic and other languages. The detainees inside responded by chanting, "We want freedom!".
The detainees broke through a glass window shielded by metallic railings and hung out messages written on T-shirts denouncing the inhuman treatment they suffer at the hands of the detention centre guards.
A Kashmiri refugee, who spoke to the protesters through the broken window, said he had been in detention for two years and eight months.
Earlier, shady-looking employees of Australasian Correctional Management, the company that runs the detention centre, were seen entering the building wearing riot gear.
Screams of agony were heard as the Kashmiri refugee spoke to the protesters. He said a detainee was being beaten like an animal.
Protesters promised the detainees that they would be back with far greater numbers on June 3, the date of the national day of action to demand freedom for refugees detained in Australia.
It was a very moving and inspiring protest. The 28 detainees are now aware of the protest movement in support of their freedom and in opposition the Australian government's brutal detention policy. Protesters left confident that they had given the detainees hope.
One of the detainees contacted a RRAN member that evening and confirmed that the detainees had been punished for what ACM described as a "mini-riot". One man was put in solitary confinement. The rest refused dinner as a gesture of solidarity. The detainee said that the inmates of the centre were very encouraged by the protest, because it contradicted claims by the immigration department and ACM guards that the refugees are not welcome in Australia.
Meanwhile, Dante Tagle from Sydney reports that the Free the Refugees Campaign (FRC) organised a protest outside the Villawood detention centre on April 8 which attracted 150 people angry at the inhuman treatment of refugees. The rally was the largest action yet organised by the four-month-old FRC.
The best moment was when the protesters marched to where the detainees could see them and the two groups shouted support to each other, with chants of "freedom" and "close the camps". The uncomfortable line of police guarding the dirty looking centre only further united detainees and supporters.
The pressure on the federal government is growing and we need to make sure it becomes so great that it has no choice but to close the detention centres. For further information about the FRC contact Kobra on 0404 865 421 or Paul on 9687 5134 or visit <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/free-the-refugees-campaign>.