Asylum seekers attacked on Manus Island

Asylum seekers being held at Australia's detention centre on Manus Island were attacked by a group of locals wielding machetes, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

It was alleged that 10 locals ambushed a group of asylum seekers as they returned to the detention centre after a day excursion — the first since the centre was rocked by violence in February.

A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison told the newspaper the incident involved a ''low-level non-physical exchange between a transferee and a local resident during the course of an excursion yesterday''.

''Overdramatising these events is not helpful in the ongoing management of the Manus Island centre,'' the spokesman said.

The atmosphere on the island has remained high since February's riots, which allegedly involved clashes between local police and asylum seekers that led to the death of Iranian refugee Reza Barati.

A report into the riots released Monday found that no one party was to blame for the two nights of violence.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Author: Nicholas McCallum, Approving editor: Martin Zavan