Disturbance at Christmas Island migrant centre brought “under control” with use of tear gas

THE Immigration Minister in Australia has confirmed that police used tear gas to deal with the disturbance at the detention centre for migrants on Christmas Island on Tuesday November 10.

The Minister was not in a position to confirm if police had also used rubber bullets but he said that five of the detainees were injured.

Police used ‘some force’ and now the entire facility is back under ‘full and effective control.’

On Sunday November 8 an escaped inmate was found dead and the disorder began shortly after. Detainees made fires inside the buildings and secured a compound with the use of weapons.

Peter Dutton, the Immigration Minister, said the five people who were injured were part of ‘a hardened criminal population that occupies the immigration detention centre.’

They were injured, he added: “As a result of their interaction with the police and their refusal to comply with the directions provided by the Australian Federal Police.”

Christmas Island is one of Australia’s processing facilities for migrants who enter by boat and it is a base for foreigners facing deportation after crimes committed on Australian soil.