Four activists protesting against the Australian government’s detention of asylum seekers have been arrested after climbing on to the roof of the prime minister’s Sydney electorate office.



Police were called to Tony Abbott’s electorate office in Manly about 9am. They found four protesters sitting on the edge of the roof of the three-level building on Sydney Road.

Officers climbed up to talk to the men who had hung a large banner reading “Hunger for justice” over the side of the building.



One of the protesters, Claire Parfitt, said the protest was to show solidarity with 15 refugees on a hunger strike in Darwin including one man, Martin, who she said was close to death.

The ease with which the four activists, aged in their 20 and early 30s, were able to make their way on to the roof of the prime minister’s electorate office has raised security concerns, with NSW police saying the issue would be raised with the Australian federal police.

“But you can rest assured the electoral office of the prime minister and other important buildings like that are regularly patrolled,” Inspector Graeme Pickering told reporters.

It is understood the protesters are from the group Cross Border Collective, and are linked to refugee activists that disrupted the Australian Open men’s tennis final on Sunday night after jumping on to the court at Rod Laver arena.



“We have created this international media spectacle today to expose the torture, abuse and horrific conditions that are being perpetrated on Manus Island,” the group said.

The group is also believed to have been involved in another protest on Monday morning that delayed a Qantas flight from Melbourne to Darwin on Monday morning.

The flight was reportedly delayed by about 50 minutes after several passengers refused to sit down in a protest against the recent deportation of a Tamil asylum seeker.



“The passengers refused to follow cabin crew instruction so were offloaded and met by the Australian federal police,” a Qantas spokeswoman said.

Cross Border Collective says on its Facebook site that the co-ordinated action and campaign, Hunger for Justice, was organised to express solidarity with detainees on Manus Island, Nauru and in detention in Darwin.

