Sydney will also have a protest vigil
5.30-6.30pm this Friday 25 May,
Sydney Town Hall
Melbourne Vigil at State Library- 5.30pm- please bring ߒ flowers.
Salim met the protesters on Manus with flowers.
Vigils are being held across Australia tonight in memory of Salim, a Rohingya refugee who survived the genocide but could not survive Australia’s cruel offshore policy.
Salim is the 11 th person to die in the offshore detention camps.
This an emergency. Evacuate now.
Subject: Action Alert: Protest vigils today for Rohingyan refugee killed on Manus
Protest vigil calls to stop Manus deaths by bringing refugees here
Refugee supporters will hold a protest vigil over the death of Salim on Manus Island, this Friday May 25 at 5.30pm at the State Library 328 Swanston St Melbourne
Salim, a 52 year old Rohingyan refugee died by apparent suicide on Tuesday May 22. He is the 11th refugee to die offshore in less than 5 years.
“Salim had long suffered from medical problems including seizures and his physical and mental health had deteriorated badly. Doctors had called for him to be brought to Australia for treatment but were ignored. His was death was tragic, foreseeable and preventable; and his blood is on Peter Dutton’s hands” said Chris Breen for the Refugee Action Collective
“Dutton’s Department of Home Affairs claims Salim’s death ‘is a matter for the PNG Government’, but it was the Australian government who sent Salim to Manus, kept him imprisoned there while sick for almost five years, and refused New Zealand’s offer to take refugees from Manus.”
“Salim leaves behind a wife and three children. Australian authorities found time to leak negative stories about Salim to the media, but could not find the time to inform his wife of her husband’s death. This callousness is of a piece with the current cruelty of the Turnbull government toward a dying 63 year old Afghan refugee on Nauru. He is dying of lung cancer, palliative care is not available on Nauru, and the Australian government refuses to fly him here.”
“Opposition leader Bill Shorten has made no comment on Salim’s death. Shorten could add real pressure to stop the deaths and needless suffering offshore if he would join the calls to bring the refugee here, as Labor for Refugees will be urging at this weekend’s Victorian ALP Conference”concluded Breen.
Aziz Abdul Adam who will speak live from Manus at the rally says:
“We have enough evidence that will take you to court one day. The Australian government is like that vulture which is notching our skin from our bones. These politicians are happy taking a bath with our blood. Five years, seven deaths because of medical negligence which is deliberately planned by some politicians. There’s blood on your hands! Your shame. Your guilt. #Manus”
Salim brought flowers to protests on Manus, and organisers of the protest vigil have called for people to bring flowers to remember him.
Speakers include
– Shawfikul Islam, Australian Burmese Rohingya Organisation
– Abdul Aziz Adam, live from Manus
– Pamela Curr, refugee advocate
– Janet Rice, Greens Senator
Sydney will also have a protest vigil
5.30-6.30pm this Friday 25 May, Sydney Town Hall
Jane Salmon for Refugee Action Collective
