Asylum seekers end hunger strike

By ABIGAIL APINA
THE 18 asylum seekers facing assault charges at the regional processing centre on Manus Island went on a hunger strike lasting a week.
They started eating again last Wednesday after provincial police commander Alex N’Drassel visited them at the request of the camp administrator and immigration officer Jeffery Kengali.
N’Drassel said from Manus that the asylum seekers went on strike demanding to know why they were arrested.
They claimed that they were arrested and charged for “no good reason”.
He said he held a meeting with them last Tuesday at the camp.
They told him that they went on hunger strike because they did not understand the offences they allegedly committed.
N’Drassel explained to them the offences, the laws of the country and the procedures they would have to go through in court.
He said they went on hunger strike for five days from March 22-26. N’Drassel said they started eating again last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the senior provincial magistrate is yet to set a date for them to appear in court.