Refugees advised to leave centre

ONE refugee was “escorted out” by government officials while 49 “left voluntarily” early yesterday morning as a police-led government team stormed into the decommissioned Manus regional processing centre.
Police Commissioner Gari Baki said the 50 asylum seekers were “peacefully relocated” to the two new camps in East Lorengau.
He said Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani, who had been “stirring up trouble and telling the other refugees not to move out of the centre”, had to be escorted out.
“Police and officers from the Immigration and Citizenship Services Authority simply escorted him out of the decommissioned centre and transported him to the East Lorengau Refugee Centre where he now remains,” Baki said.
He said of the 49 others who left the centre yesterday, 36 were non-refugees and 13 refugees.
“They left voluntarily after being briefed and convinced by government officials,” he said.
“I am glad that this relocation exercise was done peacefully and without the use of force,” he said.
Baki appealed to the 328 refugees still residing in Lombrum to voluntarily relocate to the new camps “where they will not miss out on anything”.