Baxter 05 Convergence for Human Rights Third day of protests

More details from activists will be posted as protesters write in: http://www.baxter05.info/

Clash near detention centre

Monday 28th March: http://www.thestar.com.

SYDNEY: Hundreds of people demonstrating against Australia's
immigration laws clashed with police outside a detention centre for a
third day yesterday, amid criticism authorities were clamping down on
people's right to protest.

The protesters were involved in scuffles with police outside the
Baxter Immigration Detention Facility in South Australia as they
attempted to get their message of support to those held behind the
centre's 5m-high walls.

The protests began on Friday and are part of an Easter campaign to
stop Australia's mandatory detention of asylum seekers.

Seventeen people have so far been arrested over the protests, a
police spokesman said.

Yesterday protesters were involved in two confrontations with police
guarding the outback facility.

"What the police objected to was a banner which read 'freedom' in
six languages that we intended to elevate high enough for the
refugees to be able to see," a spokesman for the protesters, Mark
Goudkamp said.

The second clash came when a group of protesters was stopped from
flying kites which would have been visible to the detainees, he said.

State police assistant commissioner Gary Burns said his officers did
not use excessive force but had "acted with a lot of restraint."

"It's the protesters who actually played a game of brinkmanship and
provocation. Then, when we went in to take action, they resisted," he
said.

On Saturday, two people were injured during a charge by mounted
police. The authorities said the protesters had hit policemen and the
horses with baseball bats.

Speaking on Network Ten television, Australian Democrats leader Lyn
Allison criticised the actions taken by the police.

"Violence is never useful in demonstrations of opposition to
government policies but from what I can gather, the protesters were
hugely outnumbered by police," she said.

Australia's conservative government's policy of mandatory detention
for illegal refugees has been credited with halting the flow of boat
people to the country but has been criticised as "inhumane" by rights
groups. - AFP

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Australia: Vic protesters offer asylum-seekers support

Up to 40 Victorian protesters have demonstrated at the Maribyrnong
Detention Centre (managed by Global Solutions Limited GSL) in
Melbourne's west today.

The protest is designed to coincide with that being held by about
500 people at the Baxter Detention Centre in South Australia's north.

The Maribyrnong centre has one asylum seeker who has been in
detention for four years.

The protesters were hoping to present him with an Easter gift.

Davey Heller, from Compassion for Refugees, says they managed to
shout messages of support to the refugees inside Maribyrnong but
failed to deliver their presents.

"Two protesters entered under the front gate and walked up to the
razor wire and asked to give some Easter eggs to the detainees
inside," he said.

"That was refused by management and the police eventually escorted
one of the protesters from the site and told them that they might be
charged with trespass on summons."

Mr Heller says the protest was symbolic.

"Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt when Jesus was a young boy because
Herod was looking for the Jewish king, so Jesus was a refugee," he
said.

"If he turned up to Australia today without his papers he'd be put
straight into Baxter or Maribyrnong detention centre."

***************Australia detention protest, arrests rise to 16

Baxter Immigration Detention Facility, managed by
Global Solutions Limited (GSL)

Police defend making Baxter arrests

Sydney Morning Herald 27, 2005 -

Police have defended a heavy-handed quashing of
the Baxter protests as nine more pro-refugee
demonstrators were arrested during violent
clashes outside the remote South Australian
detention centre.

Elite Star Force police charged at protesters
three separate times, initially bursting
demonstrator's balloons and later tearing up
kites planned to be flown outside the detention
centre in South Australia's north.

The actions by the crack riot squad prompted a
series of physical altercations with about 200
activists who rallied outside the facility on the
outskirts of Port Augusta.

Seven men and two women were arrested for
offences including trespass, hinder police and
resist arrest, bringing to 16 the number of
people charged since the protest began on Friday.

Police said four of those arrested threw a
grappling hook and metal chain over an outer
fence of the detention centre in a bid to force
entry to the facility.

The arrests sparked a rolling melee as riot
police and protesters came to blows, with one
policeman having his protective visor and helmet
twisted as demonstrators grappled with him.

One male protester was punched in the head by a
riot squad officer and another, a woman, was
grabbed by a policeman by the hair, pulled to the
ground and had her face forcibly pushed into the
red dirt and scrub.

SA Police Assistant Commissioner Gary Burns
defended the actions of the Star Force officers,
who were among a large deployment of officers at
Baxter this Easter.

Mr Burns said protesters had been warned by
police not to fly kites or release balloons near
Baxter, citing a restricted air space over the
detention centre.

"Police acted with a lot of restraint for a long time," Mr Burns said.

"It's the protesters who actually played a game
of brinkmanship and provocation, they are the
ones that actually decided to keep pushing the
limits regardless of how many warnings they were
given.

"Then, when we have gone in to take action, they have resisted.

"Police have acted professionally and well
disciplined in the face of a lot of provocation."

The trouble started as demonstrators, some
holding balloons, came to about 200 metres of the
western side of the detention centre on Sunday
morning.

Police in riot gear formed a cordon around the
activists before the Star Force officers charged
and used pins to burst the balloons, before
officers retreated to form human barricades just
outside the detention centre's outer fence.

Some 30 minutes later, Star Force officers again
charged when demonstrators flew two kites.

As the police sought to arrest the kite-flyers, a
separate group of protesters closer to Baxter's
main entrance allegedly tried to breach Baxter's
outer fence by using a grappling hook.

Those arrests sparked the largest melee as police
and demonstrators grappled for about 10 minutes,
with activists accusing police of using excessive
force.

"It's a massive overkill," said Refugee Action
Collection NSW spokesman Ian Rintoul.

"Flying kites and releasing balloons - you
couldn't pick a more passive, peaceful gesture.

"It was a massive police operation to try and
pull down a handful of kites, and using riot
police to pop about 30 balloons is over the top."

Many of the protesters were later departing Port
Augusta but about 90 demonstrators were expected
to remain over Saturday night at their campsite,
some four kilometres west of Baxter.