The Offshore Processing Centre on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The provincial police commander, David Yapu, and local politician, Ron Knight, insist the incident had nothing to do with the rampage, which they maintain followed an altercation between asylum seekers and soldiers on the base soccer pitch. Around 100 shots were fired during the rampage, with many hitting the accommodation blocks where asylum seekers sought cover. Mr Yapu says drunken soldiers indiscriminately assaulted policemen, PNG immigration officers, other service providers and asylum seekers. A defiant Mr Dutton says he stands by his initial comments and accuses the ABC and Fairfax Media of relying on the word of Mr Knight, who he says has been convicted of fraud and excluded from PNG's Parliament. Mr Knight on Wednesday won a stay on the order denying him his seat in Parliament and vehemently denies any misappropriation of public funds. He intends to re-nominate for the Manus Island seat on Thursday.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton stands by his claims over the escalation of tension on Manus Island. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen In their complaint, seen by Fairfax Media, the three asylum seekers say they assisted a "hungry and poor child" who was requesting food or money outside the centre more than a week before the rampage. Fairfax Media has agreed not to name the refugees, who are identified by their numbers in their statement. Two are from Afghanistan, one from Pakistan. "He was fluent in English and begging for food. We had no money with us," they say. "We told him we have fruits inside the centre and he requested to come and get fruit. A photograph showing an injury allegedly sustained in the Good Friday incident at Manus Island regional processing centre. "He walked with us through gate 18 toward Oscar One (compound). While passing Oscar main gate, local security asked us what he is doing here."

They say they responded that they were going to give fruit to the boy and were allowed to take him into the centre by a local guard. Bullet holes following the Manus Island rampage. The boy was then asked to sit on a chair outside the number one tent in the compound while one of the asylum seekers went inside and filled two plastic bags with fruit. "A couple of officers also gave him fruits, biscuits, etc," they say, before security came and escorted the boy from the centre. "All these incidents are recorded by your CCTV cameras. We are requesting for the immediate release of the footage of this incident."

The statement is consistent with the police version, in which Mr Yapu says the incident involving the boy, who was 10, was "low profile", and no complaint was lodged by the boy's parents. On Tuesday night, Mr Dutton did not back down from his earlier claims. Loading "As you'd expect I receive confidential briefings, I receive classified information from the commissioner of Australian Border Force, from my department and I'm not going to release that information publicly," he told Sky News.



"The reality is that the tension has been building up and people who believe that an incident on the soccer field was the sole incident that sparked the response that we saw from the PNG naval officer allegedly firing shots is a nonsense."



"I've received briefings over a period of time as you would expect and there have been a number of incidents in relation to allegations around sexual assault." Follow us on Facebook