Afghan detainees in mass break-out

Updated September 1, 2010 12:22:22

More than 70 asylum seekers have escaped from the Darwin detention centre and are protesting on the Stuart Highway to highlight what they say is unfair treatment by Australian authorities.

They are angry that many haven't had their claims assessed or been charged several months after going into detention.

Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: David Coady, ABC reporter Darwin

COADY: Well that's right. It seems in this case, the motive of the people who have left the detention centre was not to escape into the community, but was to escape so that they could send a message and so they could get media attention. Well they have certainly been able to accomplish that. There are about 72 men from Afghanistan who have gathered outside the walls of the Darwin Immigration Detention Centre. They say, speaking to them, they said that they were able to get out by pushing on a gate and while immigration staff did not want them to go, they were able to push and get out. Now looking at the immigration detention centre, we cannot see any breach in the fence and it is a very secure facility, two wire fences and a lot of bush that separate the immigration detention centre from the road, but they were able to get through that and now they are on a major road in Darwin, where people are driving past on their way to work and they are holding up signs and those signs that with painting on bed sheets say "Please Help Us, Show Us Mercy," They say we are homeless, defenceless and we seek to have protection.

Now I spoke with a couple of the men. There are a few English speakers among the group and they say that they...one man said that he had been held for nine months. He arrived from Afghanistan on a boat or is originally from Afghanistan, but he arrived on Australian waters on a boat and he has been in detention for nine months. He says that his claim for refugee status has now been rejected and he is not happy about that.

LAM: And David, you mentioned that they wanted media attention, so was that one of the things that they wanted to highlight or is it the main thing that they want to highlight, the fact that they wanted things to move far more quickly?

COADY: Well, I suppose there are only a few people who are able to communicate with us. There are a lot of signs painted in English, but the message that they are sending is that they have been in immigration detention for a long time, they want to be in Australia, they want to seek asylum in Australia, because they say they are in danger in their homeland of Afghanistan. But they say that their refugee claim has been rejected by the authorities now and they are going to be sent home. So that is a message that they wanted to send and they did not necessarily want to escape. Because what they have done now is they have set up on the grassed area outside the centre. There are about 10 to 20 police officers surrounding them, stopping them from going anywhere else if they wanted to, but there is also a large media contingent, so there are reporters speaking with them and asking them questions.