"It's just going crazy," says a Christmas Island detainee. Photo: AFP
Armed with chainsaws, machetes and petrol bombs, a group of Christmas Island detainees have set up a barricade at the centre where rioting broke out after the death of another inmate
Fazel Chegeni, an Iranian Kurd, was found dead at the bottom of nearby cliffs by Australian Federal Police after he attempted escape on Sunday.
The Australian government yesterday confirmed a number of people at the detention centre were involved in a "stand-off" with authorities.
New Zealander Tuk Whakatutu, a detainee at the centre, told RNZ the situation was tense. "The riots squad's all geared up ready to come in. Everything's barricaded up, all the young fellas are all tooled up.
"They've got petrol bombs, they've got machetes, they've got chainsaws metal; bars all sorts."
LISTEN to Christmas Island detainee Tuk Whakatutu on RNZ:
Rioters had the run of the compound and had broken into garden sheds to look for weapons and the group that was armed was mainly New Zealanders and Pacific Islanders.
"It's just going crazy. I want nothing to do with it, but all the young fellas are geed up, they want to go to war with them."
The centre houses both asylum seekers and about 40 New Zealanders awaiting deportation.
Detainee Ricardo Young told RNZ News there were fires everywhere at the camp.
He had been told armed guards were going to storm the facility firing rubber bullets. "They're all at the fence, they're going to come in. They're just waiting to see what they're going do ... everyone's scared for their life."
"There's all drones all over the place, it's all happening here. The place is all on fire ... it's very unsafe, you don't know what's going to happen."
The guards gathered at the fence were in riot gear, he said. "They've got force, they're ready, they've got at least 200 people."
Young said the detainees had tried to open negotiations with Serco, the private company that operates the detention centre.
"There's no negotiation, they don't want to negotiate nothing you know? We wanted to get one of the boys to negotiate with them to see if we could resolve this matter and they don't want a piece of it. They've pretty much said that they want war, so at the end of the day they're declaring it. Serco's declaring it.
"It leaves the people in the detention centre with no choice but to just go on with what they have to do because at the end of the day what's going to happen? They're going to bash them any way. So if they surrender anyway they're still going to get bashed. They don't want to sort anything out."
The partner of one detainee - who wanted to be known by only her first name, Denise - has been in regular contact with her partner, an inmate at the centre and she told RNZ she is afraid for the safety of all the detainees.
"They're all geared up in their riot outfits, interrogating detainees from the fence line, pointing fingers at them and telling them 'watch out' and they're pretty much stuffed when they get their hands on them.
"It's alarming to think what's going to happen when they come back and take control of the centre."
Her partner told her the detainees expected there would be a violent ending. "I'm frightened all the time, even the rioting's extreme and what's going to happen as a result of this is frightening.
"I'm afraid for their safety, everyone's safety there, because they've seen first hand how violent these ERT squads can actually be."
CALL FOR KEY TO INTERVENE
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key raised his concerns about the detention of New Zealanders when Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visited this country in October. At that time, Turnbull promised more resources so the visa appeal processes would be faster.
But Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox said the situation was volatile and the New Zealand Government needed to do much more. "A delegation should be allowed to go to Christmas Island to ascertain the safety of all those there, especially expat Kiwis."
LISTEN to Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox on RNZ:
Key said incidents at the detention centre were a matter for the Australian government and he would not be intervening.
"I'm always concerned about New Zealanders but they are in a corrections facility [where] actually they are free to leave... They are staying there voluntarily."
Ian Rintoul from Australia's Refugee Action Coalition told he feared excessive force would be used against detainees as a form of punishment.
"I think everyone's very concerned about that - the federal police, riot police and the Serco emergency response team that they use, their own little riot squad team, they're very brutal, there's a brutal history of them in similar circumstances.
"People are very used to being brutalised by Serco, we are quite worried and we've tried to make as many calls on the government that we can to get Serco to exercise restraint when they decide they want to go back into the detention centre."
Rintoul said it should be possible to stabilise the situation without the use of excessive force.
"I don't think it's really a matter of regaining control, it's not like the detainees are trying to keep Serco out.
"I don't think we need to see the use of batons and tear gas and plastic cuffs to regain control.
And I think if they [Serco] were sensible about it they could easily negotiate how that was going to happen."
According to the Immigration and Border Protection Department, staff had re-entered central parts of the centre and the perimeter was secure, the ABC reports.
Back-up staff were being flown to Christmas Island to relieve workers who have been under pressure since the asylum seeker's death.
The cause of Chegeni’s death is currently unknown and will be investigated by a coroner.
A version of this story was first published on radionz.co.nz.
