End Mandatory Detention: Protest at Maribyrnong Detention Centre

Australia's barbaric system of mandatory detention includes detention centres offshore, in deserts, but in the suburbs of major cities as well. One of those centres is in Maribyrnong in Melbourne's West, where high security fencing surround people who are locked up for doing nothing more than seeking asylum.

These detention centres can hold people indefinitely, sometimes for years, where asylum seekers are left wondering and despairing about when they will be released - or fearing being deported back to the countries in which they fled. This breeds mental illness and has led to many suicide attempts, sometimes successful.

Recently, detainees who rioted in Villawood Detention Centre, brought to the brink by this very system of despair and mental illness, were moved to Maribyrnong Detention Centre. We defend their right to protest their inhumane conditions and condemn any punishment they're given.

Refugee Action Collective (Victoria) demands an end to mandatory detention, the release of all refugees into the community and the end to all policies of offshore processing including the Malaysian "solution."

We call on those who support refugees to come out on May 29 at 2pm to the Maribyrnong Detention Centre to protest against mandatory detention and to show solidarity with those detained inside.