- “This was a very dangerous situation,” an Australian official says
- People in the Australian detention center on Manus Island breached its fences
- Human rights groups have criticized the offshore facilities for processing asylum seekers
- Australian officials say they deter people from attempting the dangerous journey
(CNN) — One person was killed and dozens injured after unrest broke out overnight at an Australian detention center for asylum seekers on a remote island in Papua New Guinea, authorities said Tuesday.
Detainees breached fences surrounding the facility on Manus Island, which lies several hundred kilometers northeast of mainland Papua New Guinea, the Australian government said.
“This was a very dangerous situation where people decided to protest in a very violent way and to take themselves outside the center and place themselves at great risk,” said Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison.
Order has now been restored at the facility on Manus, a sparsely populated jungle island, he said.
Australia operates controversial offshore centers for processing asylum seekers on Manus and the tiny Pacific island of Nauru.
Australian authorities say the far-flung detention centers are a way of deterring people from attempting the perilous sea journey to Australia, where immigration is a delicate political issue.
But conditions at the facilities have been criticized by human rights advocates, who have
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