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Manus Island detention centre security staff allowed armed locals into facility, witnesses say
ABC News - February 25, 2014
The Federal Government has backed away from its initial claims about what happened during the violence at its off-shore detention centre that killed one detainee and left dozens more injured.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison initially said 23-year-old Iranian man Reza Berati sustained a fatal head injury on February 17 while outside the detention centre, but on Saturday he said new information suggested the incident, along with much of the riot, occurred inside the centre's perimeter.
At the scene that night were expatriate G4S guards, mostly Australian and locally engaged Papua New Guinean G4S guards – in uniform, out of uniform and those in riot gear, known as the Incident Response Team (IRT). By all reports, PNG's notoriously brutal police mobile squad were the only ones who had guns.
A Papua New Guinean guard employed by G4S has told ABC's 7.30 program – on condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job – that the unrest began when asylum seekers were taunting the local staff. A large crowd of local residents had also gathered to watch a stand-off that continued for several hours.
The detention centre is separated into various compounds, each fenced with an internal perimeter. The protests were concentrated in Mike compound, but as detainees in Foxtrot compound were taken to a nearby playing field for safety some escaped and joined in the riot.
A witness who watched the unrest from about 100 metres away – who would not be identified for fear of repercussions from security guards – said 10 to 15 locals armed with lengths of wood got involved.
He says asylum seekers were taunting local staff with highly offensive insults and G4S guards asked the locals to come inside the centre.
Claims security staff let locals into the centre
A photo from the night of February 17 appears to show the G4S riot team at the outside fence. The witness says the G4S guards wanted to get into the compound.
"The police fire warning shots and that scared the clients and they went into their rooms. And that's when G4S went in," he told the ABC. "And when the G4S get into the camp they belt, they fight with the clients and belt them very badly. Some are wounded, blood run over their face."
Witnesses and guards say some G4S staff were injured by stones or by asylum seekers fighting back but there have been conflicting reports about whether local residents joined in the brawl.
"The locals came to see what's happening, they were on the road to see what's happening," the witness said.
"The G4S guards just break the fence down they told everybody to go in and stop them and hit them and fight them. Because the G4S guards want manpower to help them so they took them inside, the locals helped them."
Besides firing the shots, according to this witness, the police mobile squad played a limited role and he claims it was Papua New Guinean G4S guards who did most of the fighting. This has been backed up by another witness and the guards themselves.
Some of the asylum seekers who tried to escape the violence by hiding in their rooms or in a gym were dragged out and brutally assaulted, the witness says.
The expat guards reportedly stayed out of the violence for the most part trying to calm the situation and overseeing operations. A spokesperson said the security company supports the government review and it takes allegations that G4S staff were involved in violence "seriously".
"We as a company do not tolerate violent or abusive behaviour from our employees," the company said in a statement last week. "We support the investigation of the incident that was announced by Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Scott Morrison, and we will fully cooperate with that investigation."
Injured detainees sustained 'blunt trauma' to the head: doctor
An Australian G4S guard – who requested anonymity because of his contract with the company – told the ABC that Mr Berati was hit with lengths of wood and metal poles taken from beds, and had his head or neck stomped on. However, the ABC cannot verify the accuracy of this information.
Other seriously injured asylum seekers were rushed to the local hospital 20 kilometres away. Dr Changol Amai, acting director of medical services at Lorengau Hospital treated two of the seriously injured asylum seekers that night, including the man who was shot in the buttocks and a man with a head injury.
"Someone with a blunt, possibly a blunt trauma to the left orbit. It was grossly swollen, he couldn't look out the left eye," Dr Amai said. He says almost all of those treated by medical staff were Iranian.
A local doctor, familiar with tribal violence, says asylum seekers underestimated what could happen when a group of Papua New Guinean men felt slighted. "Once the first punch is thrown, it will go right until the end. That's one thing which I'm sure the refugees or even the Australian government hasn't taken into account, because this is the way we are," Dr Amai said.
Some locals on Manus Island believe the violence could be repeated if the processing of refugee applications is seen to drag on. Following the deadly riot, the protests have stopped and security around the facility has been tightened.
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