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Villawood protesters try to disrupt transfer of asylum seekers Villawood protesters fail to disrupt transfer of asylum seekers
(about 1 hour later)
A large group of protesters camped out on Friday night at the Villawood detention centre in Sydney in anticipation of a transfer of more asylum seekers to Western Australia. Tensions flared outside Sydney's Villawood asylum seeker detention centre on Saturday, where protesters were trying to stop 45 detainees from being sent to Western Australia.About 100 people gathered outside the centre trying to disrupt the transfer of the asylum seekers to remote West Australian facilities in Curtin and Northam.Three people who broke through a police barrier were detained for a short time and were later released without being charged.
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection plans to transfer 83 asylum seekers to its remote centre in Curtin in Western Australia. Protest spokeswoman Clo Schofield said transferring the asylum seekers to remote parts of the country was an intentional move by the Department of Immigration and Border Control to isolate the detainees from their legal advisers and to avoid public scrutiny of their conditions.
The protesters say the asylum seekers are being moved to isolate them from their legal advisers. Some of them are involved in legal action with the department after the publication earlier this year of their personal details on its website.
Some of the asylum seekers are involved in legal action with the department after the publication earlier this year of their personal details on its website. But the department said the transfer was because of renovations being done at the Villawood centre.
But the department says the transfer is because of renovations being done at the Villawood centre. The protest failed to stop the transfers, with two buses leaving the centre at about 10.30am.Ms Schofield said the eventual transfer was devastating and she criticised the police for their heavy handed treatment of protesters.She claimed a police dog had run free of its leash and attacked people at the rally."It was really frightening and all a bit insane," she said.
Between 50 and 100 protesters decided to camp outside the centre’s main gate after hearing that buses had arrived at the centre. "We condemn that violence and find it shocking."
"There's two coaches inside the centre, the same coaches that were used on standby," the group’s spokeswoman, Clo Schofield, told the ABC. The protesters had camped out on Friday night at the centre in anticipation of a transfer of more asylum seekers
"There are five riot cops on standby ... so we decided to camp out overnight to ensure we would have the maximum opportunity to disrupt this move by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection."
Protesters continued their action on Saturday.
On Thursday eight protesters were arrested.On Thursday eight protesters were arrested.