BY SIMON WOOD
WOOLGOOLGA It seems hardly a day goes by now without somebody, from ordinary people to the United Nations, criticising the Coalition government's prejudiced and inhumane mandatory detention policy.
At 9am on July 26, passionate refugees' rights activists from the Bellingen and Coffs Harbour areas demonstrated outside Woolgoolga Neighbourhood Centre, where immigration minister Philip Ruddock was making a public appearance. Activists had made sure local media were there to cover the demonstration.
Ruddock guarded by eight security guards and police stopped to talk to the demonstrators, but was evasive in conversation. After an activist called "detention centre" a euphemism, he quickly left.
That evening, people gathered for a protest outside Armidale's Earle Page College, where Ruddock was also due to speak. The atmosphere was electric as demonstrators arrived young and old, from primary school children to silver-haired folks, from businesspeople to unemployed people. The 300-400 protesters came from Armidale, Bellingen, Coffs Harbour, Dorrigo, the Great Lakes, Hastings Valley, Port Macquarie and Tamworth.
People made speeches, sang songs and chanted demands like: "Free the refugees!" Inside, Ruddock looked very uncomfortable when a high school student asked: "Why are you locking up children like me?"
Residents and local government have been discussing making Armidale a "welcome town" for refugees. Rural support for the human rights of all immigrants seems to be growing and becoming more organised.
To contact Bellingen Rural Australians for Refugees, phone (02) 6655 9090. To contact Justice for Refugees in Armidale, phone (02) 6778 5038.
From Green Left Weekly, August 7, 2002.
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