‘Police did not shoot refugees’

By ELIZABETH MIAE
INJURIES suffered by asylum seekers at the Manus detention centre were not from police gun shots, Police Minister Nixon Duban says.
He said that yesterday after being briefed by Police Commissioner Tom Kulunga that police fired warning shots as the fighting inside the centre increased and posed a threat to G4S security guards.
He said the fight started among the asylum seekers inside the detention centre on Sunday over the slow processing of their refugee status.
He said they continued the fracas on Monday night and started throwing missiles outside the area where they were.
It resulted in the injury of two police officers from the Mobile Squad Unit and three G4S security guards.
Eight of the asylum seekers jumped over the fence and tried to escape but were arrested by police.  They were taken to the police station where they were detained.
They will be charged under Papua New Guinean laws.
Duban said two of the asylum seekers were seriously injured and were taken away.
He could not confirm whether they were in Port Moresby or in Australia.
He said the Mobile Squad Unit consisted of 50 officers based outside the centre.
The security guards are inside.