Refugee supporters march on Villawood

BY HELEN BRANSGROVE

SYDNEY — Sixty people marched on the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre on October 14 to protest against the mandatory jailing in grim, high-security prisons of men, women and children seeking refuge from persecution.

The rally, organised by the Refugee Action Collective, marked International Refugee Week.

Speakers included refugee rights activists Adrian Gormly and Cyrus Sarang, Zainab Al-Turkey of the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees, Julia Wilson of Amnesty International, Kim Bullimore of the Indigenous Students Network and Ian Rintoul of the International Socialists.

Gormly told protesters that Australia is the only Western country which automatically incarcerates asylum seekers on their arrival. They are denied appropriate legal assistance, interpreters, medical care, educational and recreational facilities, as well as sufficient and nutritious food.

In response to calls from refugees behind the razor wire, the protesters resolved to return to the camp soon, in far greater numbers, to demand that all detention centres be closed down and that the asylum seekers be permanently released into the community.

From GLW issue 425