On February 21, around 2000 rallied in Melbourne against the government's inhumane treatment of asylum seekers follows the death of one asylum seeker and several injuries in violence in an Australian offshore immigration detention camp on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
Speakers included Greens MP Adam Brandt; Mohammad Baqiri, a refugee detained on Nauru under John Howard; State Secretary of the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union, Michele O’Neil and Pamela Curr of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
On February 22, about 500 people marched on Prime Minister Tony Abbott's office in Manly in Sydney. That evening, about 500 people gathered in Garema Place in Canberra to mourn the death of 23-year-old Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati and to oppose government policy. A snap action also took place in Brisbane on February 19 to condemn the government after the violence on Manus Island.
Melbourne, February 21. Photo by Tony Iltis.
Sydney, February 22. Photo by Peter Boyle.
Canberra, February 22. Photo via Stephanie King.
Brisbane, February 19. Photo by Liam Flenady.