'Major disturbance' and fires at Christmas Island detention centre

Inmates have lit fires at Australia's Christmas Island detention centre in a "major disturbance" that is yet to be resolved. So far, medical, educational and sporting facilities have been damaged. Luckily, there are no reports at this time of any injuries to detainees or staff.

Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre

The unrest started after a group of Iranian inmates began protesting about the death of an Iranian Kurd, Fazel Chegeni, who had escaped from the facility on Saturday (November 7) and whose body was found at the bottom of a cliff on Sunday. A report on his death is being prepared for the coroner.

Asylum seekers on the roof of Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney, Australia

A government statement denied a "large-scale riot" was taking place but said the situation at the centre for refugees and asylum seekers was "tense", with the immigration department confirming that guards had been withdrawn for "safety reasons".

Shops in Poon San, a small settlement on Christmas Island; ethnic Chinese make up the majority of inhabitants

Said the Australian government,

“While peaceful protest is permissible, other detainees took advantage of the situation to engage in property damage and general unrest. A group of detainees, believed to be non-citizens whose visas have been cancelled under mandatory cancellation provisions, continue to agitate and cause damage to the facility.”

Australia sends intercepted asylum seekers to Christmas Island, a remote outpost 2,650km north-west of Perth and 380km south of Java in Indonesia. Others are sent to Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and Nauru in the South Pacific. The Christmas Island centre also houses New Zealanders facing deportation from Australia, mainly those with criminal records.

Christmas Island in Australia

The government says the journey the asylum seekers make by sea to reach Australia is dangerous and controlled by criminal gangs and they have a duty to stop it. But its policy was branded a "disaster" by Human Rights Watch's Australia director in July 2015.

Christmas Island is also home to the Christmas Island red crab, a species of land crab that is endemic to Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean, well known for their annual mass migration to the sea to lay their eggs in the ocean

(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)