asylum seeker protest

World Refugee Day - Sydney 2011

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 23/06/2011 - 7:41pm

In the biggest refugee rights demonstration in Australia in years, more than a thousand people marched through the Sydney CBD on June 19 to mark World Refugee Day and to demand that the Gillard Labor government end mandatory detention of refugees arriving by boat and abandon its plan to deport refugees to Malaysia and other offshore refugee processing centres.
Text and video by Peter Boyle

Geography: 
Sydney
Keywords: 
asylum seeker protest

World Refugee Rally in Melbourne 2011 Coverage

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 21/06/2011 - 10:07pm

On World Refugee Day on Sunday June 19th, rallies were held around Australia including in Melbourne. In Melbourne the crowd heard from well known human rights lawyer Julian Burnside. He was quoted on the ABC online as stating:

""If (Ms Gillard) were in that position, what would she do? What would you do? Wouldn't you want to make a run for safety? Wouldn't you want to get your kids to safety, wouldn't you want to do what it takes to get yourself to safety and make sure you have a life," he asked the rally.

Geography: 
Melbourne
Keywords: 
asylum seeker protest

Media Release: Refugee campaigners to demand Labor axe the “Malaysian solution.

Submitted by Flowerpower on Thu, 09/06/2011 - 5:09pm

Refugee Advocates are to demand that the Labor government axe the “Malaysian solution” with a protest outside Labor Party Headquarters in Melbourne from 1pm Friday 10th. 360 King Street, West Melbourne. Refugee Action Collective (Victoria) condemns the Labor government’s policy to ship asylum seekers to Malaysia. It is not a solution for refugees fleeing war and persecution. It is a return to the dark days of John Howard and offshore processing.

Geography: 
Melbourne
Keywords: 
asylum seeker protest

Refugee protest at Maribyrong met with police violence

Submitted by Flowerpower on Tue, 26/04/2011 - 2:57pm

Hundreds of people rallied at Maribyrnong Detention Centre in Melbourne on the 25th of April 2011 as part of a national day of action against mandatory detention that also saw protests in Curtin in WA and Villawood in Sydney. The rally heard from speakers before marching around the rear of the detention centre. For a second time in a number of weeks protestors were capscium sprayed outside a Detention Centre by Victoria Police. The police attacked protestors several times with capscium spray, batons and horse charges to prevent protestors from tieing ribbons or shaking the fence. It is becoming clear that the Victorian Police has now adopted the use of capscicum spray as standard practice as a crowd control technique.
Related: Account of the rally by John Passant: Maribyrnong, refugees and democracy -- Political analysis of the day by John Passant: Tear down your detention centres, Julia Gillard

Geography: 
Melbourne
Keywords: 
Maribyrnong Detention Centre
asylum seeker protest