Asylum Seekers Injured after Riot Police Violence on Christmas Island
Australian Federal Police dressed in riot gear have forcibly suppressed a peaceful protest on Christmas Island.
While Immigration Minister and the mainstream media are reporting a ‘violent clash’, one needs only to look at who was dressed for a riot to determine who started the violence.
Mr Morrison is quoted as saying, “Reports to me suggest some detainees became aggressive and were subsequently restrained.”
Mr Morrison is also well known for not letting the facts get in the way of his agenda.
Asylum seekers who witnessed the attack by the baton-wielding, helmeted riot squad said they saw people whose faces and shirts were covered in blood.
At least 6 asylum seekers sustained injuries which required treatment, including broken bones and sprains.
The protest started on the day that marked 100 days since Reza Berati was murdered on Manus Island.
Despite an enquiry and PNG police investigation no one has been charged with the murder.
It is not known if the protest of hundreds of asylum seekers inside the Red, Blue, Green and Gold compounds were continuing, although some reports say that police entered those compounds too.
Spokesperson Ian Rintoul says the attack is another reason Scott Morrison should resign or be sacked.
“Just as Scott Morrison gave tacit approval to attacks on asylum seekers on Manus Island, he has unleashed the riot squad on peaceful protesters on Christmas Island.
“Christmas Island is an extension of offshore processing and the brutality of Manus Island.
“Scott Morrisonis responsible for both.”
“The asylum seekers are fleeing regimes that brutally attack peaceful protests; and now they find the government that should be providing protection uses the same methods against them.”
Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young is worried more violence may occur.
“Operation Blame the Victims was in full swing again today as Scott Morrison insisted that it was the unarmed men who received the beating that are to blame,” she said.
