Manus Island: PNG police fired shots twice during asylum seeker protest, Scott Morrison says

Updated

Papua New Guinea police opened fire at least twice during a violent riot at the Manus Island detention facility on Monday night, according to advice given to the Immigration Minister.

Scott Morrison held a second press conference to release more details about the unrest, following briefings from his department in Canberra and a meeting of Cabinet's National Security Committee.

One asylum seeker was killed and another has been flown to Brisbane for treatment of a suspected skull fracture.

Another asylum seeker was shot in the buttocks and has been treated in Port Moresby, along with three others whose injuries warranted treatment in the PNG capital.

Mr Morrison said 12 men are being treated for serious injuries in the centre's clinic.

In all 77 people were injured, mostly suffering head injuries, in a violent clash that involved hundreds of asylum seekers, PNG police and G4S security contractors from the centre.

Mr Morrison said the process of advising the family of the dead man is "currently being undertaken" and would not release any details of the asylum seeker's identity, nationality or age.

"Once I'm advised that I can release those details then I'd be happy to release those details," he said.

PNG prime minister Peter O'Neill later said the asylum seeker was an Iranian national.

Mr Morrison said the protests flared at 9:45pm (local time) when asylum seekers pushed down internal fences at the centre.

"The incident escalated quickly with several hundred transferees involved," he said.

"A number of transferees moved from the facility to the adjoining road where they also pushed down fences."

He said the PNG police "were reported to have fired shots" at 11:20pm.

"At around midnight local time at the height of the disturbance, G4S staff withdrew to the internal perimeter, and the PNG police intervened with those transferees who had breached the external perimeter," he said.

"At 1:00am the PNG police were once again reported to have fired shots."

Interactive: Australia’s offshore immigration centres Find out more about Australia’s operations on Christmas Island, Manus Island and Nauru.

'No suggestion' PNG police fired at asylum seekers

But Mr Morrison said it could not be assumed that PNG police had injured any asylum seekers.

"There's no suggestion they fired at asylum seekers. I said shots were reported to be fired," he said.

"There's no suggestion those shots were the ones that involved the individual being shot in the buttocks either.

"You need to be careful not to connect dots here that I haven't connected.

"They could have been fired in the air as a warning, they could have been fired in any number of circumstances."

Manus Island MP Ronnie Knight blames the detention centre management for the riot. Listen to his interview with PM here.

Mr Morrison said the protests first began with about 50 to 70 asylum seekers demanding the release of eight people detained by PNG police the previous night.

The eight asylum seekers were arrested following what the Minister described as a "disturbance" on Sunday night.

The ABC has obtained video footage of that incident, shot from the perimeter of the compound.

It shows detainees shouting and throwing stones at guards and houses nearby.

The detainees are also seen rushing towards the main gate.

Mr Morrison said the protests were a clear attempt by asylum seekers to "completely disrupt operations" at the centre.

"On this occasion, despite what is a terrible tragedy, the centre stands, the centre operates and the centre was operating first thing this morning," he said.

The Minister said 100 security staff have been put on standby and a decision about whether they will go to Manus Island will be made in the next few days.

"This is in addition to the 130 additional security staff that were deployed to Manus on February 1-3," he said.

Just last week, the security firm, G4S, advertised for jobs on Manus Island for Safety and Security Officers, describing it as an "exciting" position.

The Minister has sent his department's deputy-secretary to Papua New Guinea for meetings tomorrow and ordered his department head Martin Bowles to lead a full review of the incident.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott also phoned his PNG counterpart today.

"Prime Minister O'Neill confirmed PNG's ongoing commitment to offshore processing on Manus Island and resettlement in PNG," Mr Morrison said

Morrison says refugee advocate's claims 'not correct'

Earlier on Tuesday, Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said the latest incident began with locals breaking into the centre.

"The perimeter fences were breached by locals, the centre had already been evacuated, and PNG police and locals carried out systematic attacks, savage attacks on the asylum seekers last night," he told ABC News Breakfast.

The ABC has been unable to verify Mr Rintoul's claims but Mr Morrison said they were "not correct" on the information he had been given.

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Refugee advocate Ian Rintoul speaks with ABC News Breakfast (ABC News)

The Opposition has called for a "full inquiry" arguing that the facility is "utterly critical" to Australia's asylum seeker strategy.

The Greens and Independent MP Andrew Wilkie want the centre closed and offshore processing brought to an end.

But Mr Morrison says the Government's determination to stick to its policies is "absolute".

"The Government's resolve when it comes to our policies is very clear and that resolve won't break," he said.

The previous Labor government reopened the centre in November 2012 after closing it down shortly after coming to power in 2007.

It was first set up by the Howard government in 2001.

Distressed asylum seekers called advocates during unrest

Meanwhile, refugee advocates have revealed Monday night's outbreak of violence prompted distressed asylum seekers to call them for help.

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre recorded some of the calls it received.

They cannot verify the identity of the callers, but say the details are consistent with other information they have received.

One caller said asylum seekers feared both security staff and local residents.

"They are still killing. I do not know until now if they killed many of us or they injured one of us. But everyone is bleeding," the caller said.

Topics: refugees, immigration, community-and-society, federal-government, australia, nauru

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