SA: Police clash with protesters near Baxter detention centre

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SA: Police clash with protesters near Baxter detention centre

ADELAIDE, April 18 AAP - Police clashed with protesters today outside the Baxter detentioncentre after demonstrators climbed barricades and tried to march on the centre.

Ignoring police appeals to remain beyond a roadblock erected to seal access to thecentre, hundreds of protesters confronted police in a tense stand-off this afternoon.

Some protesters climbed the barricades and attempted to make their way on foot to thecentre's main gates, before a second line of police blocked their path and began confiscatingcamping equipment.

The initial focal point of the protest was a checkpoint established two kilometresfrom the centre, which is located on the outskirts of Port Augusta on the northern tipof Spencer Gulf.

Hundreds of protesters from around Australia have converged on Port Augusta to rallyagainst the government's treatment of asylum seekers.

The number of arrests at today's demonstration remained unclear as the protesters retreated.

Earlier, refugee advocates claimed two asylum seekers freed from Baxter yesterday wereabandoned in the centre of Port Augusta by immigration officials.

Advocate Jack Smit, from the Project SafeCom group, said the asylum seekers had beenreleased following a court ruling this week that the government could not detain peopleawaiting deportation.

Mr Smit said the two Iranians were found wandering Port Augusta's city centre by a lawyer.

Refugee advocates claim conditions inside the Baxter detention centre are comparableto Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters arebeing held at a US military base.

Some 300 police officers were redeployed to Port Augusta this weekend, after last year'sEaster rally at the Woomera detention centre, during which detainees staged several massescapes with the help of demonstrators.

Water police also scoured Port Augusta's foreshore while police helicopters hoveredoverhead and mounted police conducted patrols.

Police were expecting up to 3,000 protesters but unofficial estimations put the number at 500.

Most of the protesters met in the city centre before deciding to camp as close as possibleto the detention centre, which led to what began as a peaceful standoff at the roadblock.

Protesters kept their movements and plans closely guarded, prompting a police appealfor some assistance.

"We have, and still do, offer a spokesperson to talk to the demonstrators about anappropriate camp site," SA Police Assistant Commissioner Graham Brown said.

Some advocates called for independent investigation into management at Baxter, whichthey described as a "brutal regime".

Refugee Action Collective protest organiser Fleur Taylor, from Melbourne, said centremanager Australasian Correctional Management (ACM), authorised by the Department of Immigration(DIMIA), had increased punishment of Baxter detainees.

"ACM and DIMIA are desperate to avoid scrutiny of the brutal regime inside Baxter andhave used the Easter protests as a pretext to confine people in conditions reminiscentof Camp X-Ray," Ms Taylor said.

AAP sl/pa/ge/br

KEYWORD: BAXTER THIRD NIGHTLEAD (PIX AVAILABLE)