Conditions becoming more oppressive in an effort to coerce occupants to move to a transit centre where they don’t feel safe

The Manus Island detention centre is being shut down around refugees and asylum seekers while they are still living in it.

Refugees inside the centre reported on Wednesday that immigration officials have said they will cut the power from the Charlie compound on Friday, forcing out refugees still living there.

The entire Manus camp is being progressively shut down, with the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments insisting it will be closed and emptied by 31 October.

The gym has been closed, generators removed, the canteen de-stocked and English classes and other activities discontinued, while buildings are being progressively shut down and cordoned off.

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Iranian refugee Behrouz Boochani said conditions inside the Manus Island detention centre were becoming steadily more oppressive in an effort to coerce men to accept a move to the Australian-built East Lorengau Refugee Transit Centre (ELRTC) on the outskirts of the Manus province’s main town, Lorengau.

“Two weeks ago some other refugees left Foxtrot [compound] and went to the rooms which were part of the old medical clinic but they could not stay there because immigration cut the power and they were homeless for a few days,” he said. “Australian immigration is trying to close Foxtrot but without providing any place for the refugees who leave Foxtrot to go.

“When the refugees ask them to find a place for them, they say you must go to East Lorengau camp. East Lorengau is close to the local community and means the refugees would be forced to live in PNG.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Guardian Australia reported that refugees on Manus Island have been warned that their chance of resettlement in the United States will be jeopardised if they resist moves to force them to move to the transit centre.

A document posted at the detention centre and headed, “Manus Island closes in 123 days”, reads: “The Manus RPC will close on 31 October 2017. Refugees should move to the ELRTC without delay. Accommodation at the ELRTC is safe and secure.

“If you refuse to move to the ELRTC or ignore other directions given to you, your failure to cooperate will be noted. US authorities will take your history of behaviour into account when deciding whether to offer you an opportunity to resettle in the US.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A document posted at the Manus Island detention centre

Hundreds of refugees are refusing to leave the Manus detention centre – which is isolated and on the grounds of a military base – saying they do not feel safe in Lorengau and fear being attacked.

In the latest of a series of assaults on refugees and asylum seekers, a Bangladeshi man was allegedly attacked with a machete in Lorengau last month. His arm was hacked so severely he needed to be evacuated to Port Moresby for emergency medical treatment. Advocates say he was robbed of his phone, money and belongings – the fourth violent robbery of a refugee or asylum seeker in the past month.

PNG immigration did not return calls from Guardian Australia.



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Greens senator Nick McKim, who recently visited Manus Island and has been in close contact with refugees inside the centre, said those held on Manus were facing an invidious choice.

“They are being bullied, intimidated and smoked out of the centre, despite having nowhere safe to sleep or live in Papua New Guinea,” he said. “If the worst happens and violence again flares up, it will be because of the choices [the immigration minster] Peter Dutton has made.”

McKim said the conditions on Manus were akin to torture and growing more fraught by the day. He said the government should bring all of those held on the island to Australia.

A committee of the office of the United Nations high commissioner for human rights similarly called for an immediate end to Australia’s offshore processing regime, and for all refugees and asylum seekers to be brought to Australia.