Asylum seekers threaten suicide

Asylum seekers on Manus Island say they are ready to kill themselves if police try to break up their protest , according to an Australian Broadcasting Corporation report.

The asylum seekers, who have been staging the protest for more than a week, told ABC that should they die in detention, they wanted to donate their organs to Australians.

Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Rimbink Pato said the protesters were being “coerced and encouraged by activists in Australia” who were distributing misleading information.

The detainees in at least one compound have locked staff at the regional processing centre out.

The centre is run by the Australian Government after a deal was reached with the PNG Government led by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill. 

The asylum seekers are going through a screening process to determine whether they can be resettled in PNG. Pato said earlier that some of them were qualified professionals such as engineers and accountants whose expertise could be used in the private and public sectors.

Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young told ABC yesterday that the asylum seekers should not do anything to harm themselves.

She called on them to follow the processes being put in place to determine their resettlement.