Refugees fear for safety

National

By CHARLES MOI
THE refugees on Manus are scared and fear for the safety after security officers left the regional processing centre when its closure yesterday.
One of the refugees, Kurdish-Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani, described the situation at the centre as critical, saying they feared of being attacked by locals and soldiers.
The Australian and local security officers left the centre at 5am yesterday.
“The refugees are extremely scared,” Boochani said.
He claimed that some locals took some of their belongings after the officers left the centre.
“The refugees won’t have any food and only a few bottles of water for the 600 men,” Boochani said.
“The situation is getting worse. They are very scared but will not leave the centre. We don’t know what will happen.”
He said Australian Senator Nick McKim, a representative of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, was with the asylum seekers yesterday.
He was there with the international media to hear the plight of the asylum seekers.
Chief Migration Officer Solomon Kantha, who is on Manus, said he needed to brief Prime Minister Peter O’Neill first of what was happening there before he talked to the journalists.