Australian Authorities Cracked Down on Christmas Island Detainees After a Riot and Tense Standoff

On Tuesday, Australian Federal Police and Border Force officials used tear gas to end a two-day standoff at the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre. Five detainees were left with injuries after the riots; no police were harmed.

This morning the AAP is reporting rioters will be prosecuted for causing, in Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's estimation, "well over $1 million of damage" to the center.

The riots broke out after the death of asylum seeker Fazal Chegeni, whose body was found by search and rescue teams outside the center on Sunday.

According to reports, guards from the private security group Serco deserted the detention center on Sunday evening after rioters—allegedly armed with chainsaws and machetes—tore down fences and lit fires.

On Monday night around 50 detainees slept outside on a sports court, reportedly fearing excessive force by guards. Overnight, extra federal police were flown in to the island to regain control.

Around 1 AM local time on Tuesday morning News Corp journalists heard a message played over the center's loudspeaker urging detainees to stop rioting, before police allegedly wearing riot gear stormed the facility.

Reports indicate the riot first broke out outside of the center's medical clinic, when a group of detainees confronted members of Serco's emergency response team about Chegeni's death.

The West Australian is reporting Chegeni, who had a known heart condition, escaped the center on Saturday before returning on Sunday morning around 9 AM in need of medication or food.

A Christmas Island detainee, Jamie Ross Odering, told the paper he saw 15 to 20 Serco guards and police follow Chegeni into bushland and later return with a body bag.

Guards told inmates Chegeni died in an accident.

"We heard him screaming. I think they were chasing him through the jungle," a detainee told the Sydney Morning Herald. "Then the screams just stopped."

Chegeni, who had been found to be a genuine refugee, arrived in Australia in 2011 from Afghanistan. Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said he had attempted suicide before and had not received adequate mental health support.

New Zealand MP Kelvin Davis, who recently visited the detention center, said he'd been told by a source on the island that the riots began when a detainee who asked questions about Chegeni's death was assaulted.

Tuesday in a question and answer session New Zealand MPs pushed prime minister John Key on when Kiwis in detention would be returned home. In a heated exchange, Key cited the issue of visa holders with criminal convictions, who are held alongside asylum seekers on Christmas Island, directing his comments to Davis:

"Mr. Davis, if you want to put yourself on the side of sex offenders, go ahead, my son, but we'll defend New Zealanders!" Key said.

Speaking to ABC's 7.30, Australian Immigration Minister Dutton also stressed "the vast majority of people within the Christmas Island detention centre are serious criminals," justifying use of force by police—allegedly even rubber bullets.

The minister has promised a coronial inquest into Chegeni's death.

Also on Monday, a Redditor verified by moderators to have been a former Christmas Island guard launched an AMA under the username CIIDCthrowaway.

CIIDCthrowaway claimed that in the past Serco guards had been tasked with fishing bodies from the water after boat crashes on the island while asylum seeker families watched from the shoreline.

This came as Australia faced a grilling at the United Nations over its treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. Many countries voiced concerns that Australia's asylum seeker processing policy—particularly the mandatory detention of children—violates the UN Refugee Convention.

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