13 April 2015, 20:03 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – About 20 detainees of Darwin's Wickham Point immigration detention center in Australia committed self-harm in protest against being transferred to Nauru, local media reported Wednesday.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, police are en route to the facility.
Rights groups have repeatedly criticized Australian immigrant detention facilities for inhumane living conditions and brutality. Immigrant detainees have published open letters in the Australian press and staged many protests, including widespread hunger strikes and self-harming actions. Four inmates of the notorious Manus Island facility swallowed razor blades in January to attract attention to the inhumane conditions of their detention.
In early 2015, Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton reaffirmed that asylum-seeking detainees will not be allowed into Australia regardless of publicity, protest or self-harming activity.
