Refugee protests The Australian 2 May 2007

MAY 2 2007 web only.

John Stapleton

A dozen refugee activists picketed the Department of Immigration office in Sydney at lunchtime today to bring attention to the fate of four Chinese detainees on a hunger strike who are facing deportation.

The four began refusing food on the 28 March after the deportation of a woman Falun Gong practitioner.

Members of the spiritual group, banned in China, said the woman has not been heard of since and there are serious concerns for her safety.

An Australian member of the group, who wished to remain anonymous, said the hunger strike was triggered by the deportation but the hunger strikers refusal to eat was an individual matter and not an official action by the group, which focuses on spiritual activities.

The Refugee Coalition Action Group claims that the four Chinese, three women and a man, have been on a hunger strike for 35 days at Villawood Detention Centre in western Sydney. They said six other Chinese ended their hunger strike on Monday 23 April.

They claim another one of the hunger strikers, a Ms Yuan, was taken to hospital on Saturday.

``Grave concerns are held for the hunger strikers,'' said Refugee Action Group spokesman Ian Rintoul. ``They are beyond the point where they may suffer permanent damage. The Minister has behaved recklessly with their lives by continuing to deport people from Villawood.

``The Minister must urgently reconsider deportations to China.''

He said there were concerns that a number of Chinese asylum seekers who had been deported in recent weeks had experienced trouble with the Chinese authorities upon their return.

An activist at today's picket John Morris said many people were stopping to listen and read the pamphlets being distributed. ``It is part of the general awareness of how the Liberal government has oppressed rights across the board,'' he said. ``There is general discontent over the treatment of refugees.

``People thought all the reforms meant that the Immigration Department was getting better. It is getting worse for the chinese people. That is shown by the fact that we have four people on hunger strike after 35 days. They are not kidding.''

He said while the majority of asylum seekers from the Middle East were now being released into the community, the majority of Chinese asylum seekers were being held in custody and faced imminent deportation.

``There would be grave concerns for their welfare if they are sent back,'' he said. ``It is relatively recent that we have had a significant number of Chinese. People are being dragged from their beds in the early hours of the morning and forcefully deported.''

A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews confirmed there were four people on a hunger strike. ``It is unfortunate when people decide to take these actions,'' she said. ``They are taking fluids, being monitored and encouraged to take food,'' she said. ``We have no legal right to monitor people when they go back to another country. All their claims for protection are checked and if found not to have a claim for protection, which is the only grounds on which we don't return them, then we deport them.''