A group of refugee protesters shut down the Melbourne immigration office today, in protest against deporting asylum seekers to Malaysia. The 40 refugee supporters loudly chanted “Refugees are welcome here” and “Not Malaysia, Not Nauru, Gillard we’re talking to you”. Four demonstrators staged a protest inside the immigration department where they gave speeches for 20 minutes before being escorted out of the building.
“We wanted to let people know about the barbarity of the Australia government’s treatment of innocent and desperate refugees” said Scott Stewart, from the Refugee Action Collective. “Some people showed their support by clapping as we were led away”.
Two protesters outside were dressed in cow suits with placards declaring they have a “Beef with the government”, “Cows against the live export of refugees” and “Let’s start a mooovement for human rights”
“Deporting refugees to Malaysia represents a new low in human rights abuses by the Australian government” said protest spokesperson Naomi Farmer.
“Seeking asylum is a fundamental human right and today we proved that there are people in this country who are prepared to stand up for the rights of refugees and against this governments racist policies however and whenever they can.”
The protest comes as the high court injunction stopping the deportation of asylum seekers ended today as the high court begins deliberating the Malaysia refugee deal.
Image courtesy of Socialist Alternative
More photos from Socialist Alliance on Flikr
