MELBOURNE -- Under legislation which took effect on June 2, Victorian police now have the power to demand name and address of anyone. Police can also take fingerprints and body samples without having to apply to a magistrate first. The Federation of Community Legal Centres has called for a royal commission into the 24 deaths that have occurred at the hands of state police since 1988.

PERTH -- Nine refugees staged a rooftop protest from the evening of May 29 in Port Hedland following the rejection of their appeals to stay in Australia by the Immigration Review Tribunal. Some of the refugees, all from China, had been involved in the student movement in 1989 and feared persecution. The protest ended the next day when the Department of Immigration informed the protesters of the possibility of judicial review of the tribunal's decision. A further 58 people arrived by boat on Christmas Island on May 28. All had departed from the southern China port of Beihai. They were flown to Port Hedland and placed in the detention centre on May 31.

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