• Andrew Wilkie, Diary of a Manus Island guard: ‘They went into tribal mode’
The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, has made a submission to the parliamentary inquiry into the riots at the Manus Island detention centre, revealing shocking new insights into the violent and tragic events of February.
The submission to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee contains the experiences of an Australian security guard working at the detention centre during the riots.
The submission presents troubling new information about the terrifying and chaotic incident of 16 February to 18 February. It also includes unseen until now photographs of smashed doors, blood splatters and gunshot holes as well as video footage of asylum seekers protesting in the days before the riots.
The security guard, who has chosen to remain anonymous and was not included in last Monday’s ABC Four Corners program, has written his account of the riots. Excerpts of his recollections in the submission follow.
The submission can be viewed in full here:
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/Manus_Island/Submissions
February 16
The expat guards were like mediators in the middle. We were without weapons or protection and looking back I think we were quite lucky we did not suffer any serious injuries. At one point two clients snuck behind the PNG guards. When they were eventually seen, five to six PNG guards dragged each client to the ground with head shots – as in head punches, knee thrusts. Once on the ground, the PNG guards started to kick the clients in the head, torso, legs and back. Another expat guard and I ran to assist the clients. We had to jump on the clients to stop the PNG guards kicking them. Initially the PNG guards didn’t stop kicking. I remember being struck many times but my adrenalin level was quite high so I didn’t feel pain until later that night. The client who I was on was falling in and out of consciousness. I remember checking his pulse, then looking at his eyes. They seemed to be rolling backwards. I knew this client was in a bad way so I called for a stretcher to evacuate him straight away.
The problem with the PNG guards was they went into a tribal sort of mode. They were in a trance-like state of mind and nothing was going to get in their way. They wanted to drag all of the clients out and maybe not kill them, but show them that this is our country. They wanted to teach them a lesson.
February 17
Mike Compound started to riot….Radio reports were coming in that PNG locals and on/off-duty PNG G4S guards were outside the Mike Compound on the main road. They were agitated by the clients. Basically the types of slurs the clients were using were: “we are going to rape your daughters and mothers” and telling the locals to “fuck off”. The locals were trying to entice them to “come out here and have a go”. A barrage of missile-type weapons started to get thrown. The clients for days had been collecting empty water bottles and filling them with rocks. They had green storage trunks filled with their missiles and once it kicked off they bought these green trunks down so they had more missiles.
They entered the accommodation area of Mike Compound. Again they went into tribal mode. Although this time it was quite different. The PNG were more brutal and savage. I’m under the belief they wanted to kill every single one of the clients. At the rear of Mike accommodation, an Australian G4S guard was shot at, as the PNG police yelled out ‘traitor’ because he was trying to help wounded clients from being attacked further.
We heard two gunshots. I looked at a couple of other G4S expat guards and stated “this is not good”. Approximately 20 to 40 shots were fired from different locations in the vicinity of Mike Compound.
Mr Wilkie said the guard’s testimony is more dramatic proof that the asylum seeker policies of this and the previous federal government are deeply wrong and must be abandoned.
“Australia has a legal and ethical responsibility to give protection to people claiming to flee for their lives, promptly hear their claims and provide permanent refuge if the claims are accurate,” Mr Wilkie said.
“Refugees arriving by plane or boat should be quickly given health and security checks before being released into the community for full processing of their claims.
“Any credible policy on asylum seekers must look at issues in source countries, countries of first asylum and transit countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia. All policies must be co-operatively developed at a regional level and fully sanctioned by the United Nations.
“The off-shore detention centres are clearly unsafe, not only for the asylum seekers but also the Australians who risk their own safety to protect the detainees. The centres simply cannot be allowed to remain open.”
• ABC, Manus Island: Lawyers say witnesses to Reza Berati’s death need urgent protection
Lawyers acting for Manus Island detainees on Wednesday filed an urgent application to the High Court to have witnesses to the death of Reza Berati returned to Australia.
They say local guards at the centre have made death threats against the five witnesses and they should urgently be placed in protective custody in Australia.
The lawyers have also lodged a writ in the High Court, alleging crimes against humanity by both the Australian and Papua New Guinean governments.
Meanwhile, asylum seekers are circulating a petition calling on Prime Minister Tony Abbott to send them back to Indonesia.
Berati, a 23-year-old Iranian asylum seeker, died during a riot at the Manus Island detention centre in February.
One eyewitness told the ABC Mr Berati was brutally beaten by a group of guards.
“Two of them were Australians, the rest were PNG locals. They started kicking Reza in the head and the stomach with their boots,” he told the Lateline program earlier this month ( here ).
“Reza put his arms up to cover his head but they were still kicking.”
Five witnesses to the alleged murder have told their lawyers that local guards at the centre have made death threats against them.
• Fairfax: Former refugee warns Cambodia not ready to accept asylum seekers
