mantra hotel refugees

In 2009, there was a war. I hear that one person has been given a positive assessment to go to America — but he’s still here. I couldn’t continue studying, because I was alone. After seven years of imprisonment without having committed any crime, we just want to be free. Is that true? We have enough support outside — we don’t need any from the government. We discuss the last four chaotic years of US politics, what happened in November, and what to expect from the Biden administration. Please find a way for us to be free – refugees imprisoned in Mantra hotel in Melbourne plead to protesters. It’s worse than being in jail. For a while, I was a bookshop manager and was looking for work. Since 2012, Australia has sent 4,183 refugees to be detained in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Nauru, in breach of the 1951 Refugee Convention, to which Australia remains a signatory. Can you imagine five hundred people in two lines, moving very, very slowly, without shelter, waiting for lunch or dinner? People are just really tired. Refugees in Brisbane have also protested peacefully. If someone goes to the hospital even for an hour, when they return, they are put inside the isolation room downstairs for two weeks. But here, we are completely locked up. Before that, we thought that we were alone and with no support. Protesters outside the Mantra Hotel in Preston, Melbourne. For my whole life, I’ve never been free. Since 2012, Australia has sent 4,183 refugees to be detained in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Nauru, in breach of the 1951 Refugee Convention, to which Australia remains a signatory. And last year, on November 11, I was transferred back to Australia for medical reasons under the Medevac legislation. What I want to say is this: I don’t have a problem with anyone outside this building, from Australian society, who doesn’t like refugees. When I am free, I want to continue my studies. After seven years in detention, what makes you say that life is beautiful? I suffer from breathing difficulties, so I also really feel uncomfortable when I see officers around me, too. It’s a very, very slow process. I was profoundly shocked and depressed when I heard the minister talking like this. I would like to hold their hands and talk to them. Ms Castro said protesters feared one bus would be a “deportation bus” and take some men to the airport to be deported. For twenty-four days, we stayed there with no electricity and no water. Even criminals in jail are supported to study — but for us, it’s not allowed. When we say we didn’t have water for twenty-four days, some people don’t believe us. And a couple of IHMS staff have said that as long as I am here, I cannot get better. They only started to use masks properly last month — before that, they didn’t. There is an IHMS [International Health and Medical Services] treatment room — but I call it a torture room. An officer hit him hard, from behind, with a metal pole. “They’ve got them on three buses and there’s 12 public order response teams here,” she said. One thousand two hundred twenty-six refugees have been […]. But the Australian government has chosen to torture us, just for political gain. We can open the window about ten centimeters, but that’s not enough for air to get in. And I like to talk with people, especially outside. But we were all together, sharing what food we had. I don’t know why they haven’t sent him to America, or what is the meaning of this kind of delay. We have many supporters, and they are like my family now. Our new issue is out now. For six years, we were on Manus, and our future was very uncertain. We drank boiled groundwater. Exactly. But now, we feel like there is a little bit of help. Refugees and asylum seekers spent more than a year in the Mantra Hotel in Preston before they were moved in December. At the same time, the officer who transported them to and from the hospital continues working with us on the third floor. All times AEDT (GMT +11). If you are in jail, you know that after one year, for example, you will be free. But I didn’t finish my studies because I am a Kurdish refugee; I fled from Iran because my life was in danger. I want people to see clearly what the Australian government is doing. We were brought here for medical treatment, but we have not been given it. Have you received any treatment since coming to Australia? The Department of Immigration sequestered hotels for just this purpose. It sounds like punishment. Is there anyone in the Mantra Hotel who is due to go to America? I want them to see that the government is torturing us. COVID-19 has stopped people from coming in to visit. After everything you have been through, what gives you hope? Subscribe in print for $20 today! They were brave protests. Refugees in the Mantra hotel in Melbourne, brought here under Medevac from Manus, are continuing their protests to say detention is an infection risk. Already on our list? The Australian government wants to prevent people knowing about this cruelty. Don't have an account? That is why I am alive. We don’t have anything, we can’t do anything. The army claimed it was for our safety. I don’t like to see them. In my homeland, I didn’t know anything about it [the policy of mandatory detention]. But today, some of those people are living in the community. We had a plan before, but they spoiled it. In some ways, it’s much worse than Manus. Now she has grown up, she is waiting for me, and she asks, “it’s been a very hard time, when will you come back . It’s hard to explain, but it’s very, very hard to spend time here. Protesters have gathered outside the Mantra Bell City Hotel in Melbourne to stop the transfer of 60 refugees being detained inside. It’s torture for us. It allowed refugees and asylum seekers in offshore detention to be transferred to … It was horrible. When I left, I really didn’t know where I was going. It allowed refugees and asylum seekers in offshore detention to be transferred to Australia for medical help. My family and neighbors had land, but my life was not safe — so I had to flee. That’s why we are doing it. I feel I could help people who have depression or who want to kill themselves. “We’ve always been very clear that people don’t get the right to come permanently into Australia … They’ve had their medical treatment and now it is, under the legislation, right for them to return home.”, To join the conversation, please Log in. But it's not enough. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie. There were dramatic scenes as cops swarmed a hotel where about 60 men have been detained for more than year before they were loaded into buses. Those locked inside want protestors to come to the Mantra Hotel on Bell Street in Preston on Tuesday afternoon to show their support. Close • Posted by 1 hour ago. You endured a twenty-four-day siege, and you staged a mass hunger strike. And when people hear our voice, and they care, and it helps us to be free. They put our young people into cages — they are attempting to use our lives to gain votes. Hopefully, we can see them soon. And it’s like a signature move. I am from Sri Lanka. The refugees will be moved from the Manta Hotel. We are not comfortable, we can’t go anywhere, and we don’t feel happy. I also have PTSD and different mental problems. A few weeks later, I was transferred to Papua New Guinea and imprisoned in Manus Detention Center. Picture: Ian Currie/NCA NewsWireSource:News Corp Australia. Everyone has different problems and is waiting for treatment. [Moz has previously informed Chris that he has PTSD. Because of people’s actions, our voice was heard, and we still have our phones. We don’t have any information like that. The main two are the Mantra Hotel in Melbourne and the Kangaroo Point Hotel in Brisbane. Whistleblowers Activists and Citizens Alliance protester Sam Castro said there was an “enormous police presence” surrounding the Bell Street hotel on Thursday morning. And that’s what we want them to do,” he told the ABC. You’ve had shrapnel in you for seven years, while in detention. report. I am aware of many who came after July 2013, who are living in the community. Freedom is the only answer. theage.com.au/nation... 2 comments. I feel like these things keep me alive. (Michael Dodge / EPA). Is your mental or physical health deteriorating in detention, especially if you aren’t being treated? Do you think this was because the government wants to stop the protests, to stop people from seeing what’s going on? That’s why they don’t care about human rights. I still have a niece in Sri Lanka. Is an operation scheduled, and can doctors remove the shrapnel? Today, most of them are still imprisoned in hotels around the country, where they have to endure a total, indefinite lockdown. Refugees and asylum seekers who had been detained at a Melbourne hotel in Preston for more than a year have been moved to another hotel. save. Our lockdown is indefinite, and our future is ambiguous. I was charged with incitement. I feel protests bring knowledge and awareness to the society. Police have surrounded a Melbourne hotel as about 60 refugees and asylum seekers detained inside are loaded onto buses and relocated to an undisclosed site. News Today || Headlines Today Refugee groups have reacted angrily to news that a guard at a Melbourne hotel housing asylum seekers has contracted What can people outside detention do to help you get free? Prime Minister Scott Morrison has brushed off a historic defeat to hands of Bill Shorten with the government losing a substantive vote on the floor of the House for the first time since 1941. Refugee advocate Chris Breen spoke with two refugees, Mostafa Azimitabar (Moz) and Ramsiyar Sabanayagam (Ramsi), who are indefinitely detained in the Mantra Hotel “alternative place of detention” (APOD) in Preston, Melbourne. It was a big concentration camp, exactly like Manus Island. But I feel more pressure. About 65 refugees are detained at the Mantra where they have launched a daily protest to call for their release into the community. My father, my mother, my brother, and my sister died in the war. When my father and mother died from a bomb blast, I was injured at the same time. I went to Indonesia by plane, and after about forty days, I came to Australia by boat. Sign up, Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout. About 60 men were transported by bus from the Mantra in Melbourne’s north to the Park Hotel in Carlton about midday amid a heavy police presence. What do you think they achieved? Acting immigration Minister Alan Tudge said earlier this year that refugees should either return to Manus, Nauru or their home country “unless they are accepted for resettlement in the US”. I have TV, I have a refrigerator, I have a bathroom, I have a shower with hot water. I am not allowed to paint inside my room, but I can outside, in the other room. I studied teaching English as a foreign language. I want to look after them. There were ten rooms, and fifty people were living in each small room, with twenty-five bunk beds. Shrapnel was lodged in my shoulder and head. But they don’t care at all that they are risking our lives here. That was a little bit of support for us. I think we will be free when thousands of people come into the streets. While they were shooting, they were saying “go back to your own country.” But I told them that we didn’t agree to come here. We’re trying to work out if we can follow them.”, Police outside the Mantra Hotel on Thursday.Source:Supplied, Public Order Response outside the Mantra Hotel on Thursday.Source:Supplied. ‘We are human, we are not animals’: Mantra refugees transferred to another hotel By Bianca Hall and Rachel Eddie Updated December 17, 2020 — 3.55pm first published at 12.26pm The reason I am alive is because I feel it is very beautiful, and I want to continue on. On Manus we were allowed to have an excursion to the beach twice a week. Everything was white. I have seen a few people who have become very depressed. I don’t believe we’ll be freed by the people who have kept us in cages for years. “We’ll keep them in the hotels in detention until they exercise one of those options. The hotel in Melbourne’s north has been the site of many rallies in the past with protesters calling for the men to be freed from their harsh detention. Protests inside and outside detention are ongoing, as are other efforts to free them. Now we no longer have the option of going for a walk inside that detention center. There are more facilities, for sure. They are really upset. Mantra declined to comment. And when they come back, they talk closely to us. It’s not impossible — it’s our right to be free. Live Breaking News: Perth woman finds body outside Herdsman ... Nicola Gilio to receive bravery award for rescuing girl from... Herdsman, Perth: Bloody body of man discovered in car outsid... Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. I feel it’s like a punishment. Can you tell me about the current situation for refugees detained in the Mantra Hotel? Many people took refuge in other places and didn’t know where they were going. Everything was thrown away, to try and force us to the new location. They know about my problem, but haven’t done anything for it. Nillumbik Shire Council has committed its support to a group of refugees and asylum seekers who have been detained in a hotel in Melbourne’s north for more than a year. How has the risk of COVID-19 affected people detained in the hotel? In order to undermine the legislation and depict refugees as a threat, his Coalition government has made sure that most refugees brought here for medical treatment are being held in conditions that are, by many accounts, worse than offshore detention. I feel like someone has put their feet on my head and is pressing down on me. Nillumbik Shire Council has committed its support to a group of refugees and asylum seekers who have been detained in a hotel in Melbourne’s north for more than a year. But one day, we will be free, and I will see my nephew. The problem is that the government hides the reality from them. Refugees Detained in Melbourne’s Mantra Hotel Speak Out: “Our Lockdown Is Indefinite”, Get a $20 discounted print subscription today, The CIA’s Secret Global War Against the Left. We can only go there for one hour per day. I’ve heard that after people receive treatment at the hospital, they are put in solitary confinement for two weeks on return. At the moment, it’s not allowed. A NOTE ABOUT RELEVANT ADVERTISING: We collect information about the content (including ads) you use across this site and use it to make both advertising and content more relevant to you on our network and other sites. We tried to collect rainwater. Now, we have been transferred to Australia for medical help, but there is no treatment — instead, we are being punished. What made you afraid? Nothing else. She also said there were rumours other men would be taken to the Mantra Hotel near Melbourne Airport and the Best Western Fawkner Suites. But we dug holes to get to groundwater. Get our print magazine for just $20 a year. That doesn’t make any sense to me. And is it common that refugees have not received the treatment they were brought here for? Is it supposed to be a COVID-19 measure? Reopening Schools Too Early Could Be a Disaster. The Australian Government refers to the hotel as an APOD — Alternative Place of Detention. The relocation of refugees from Mantra Hotel follows the release of five refugees last week. Located in the most sought after destinations, the choice of accommodation caters for both corporate and leisure travellers. Instead of helping them, they took them to another detention center. Refugees loaded onto a bus outside the Mantra Hotel on Thursday. That’s what I am waiting for. When I talk with them, sometimes I feel I am not in detention. He was assaulted during the Manus siege. I like to write poems or articles. When I arrived in Australia, I had never heard anything about Manus or Papua New Guinea. The Morrison Government wants them to leave again — to go back to PNG or to seek resettlement in another country, including the United States. Those locked up at the Mantra were sent to Australia after the medevac legislation came into effect in March last year. .?”. About 60 refugess and asylum seekers have been detained at the Mantra Bell City Hotel in Preston for more than a year. But since then, we have been locked up on the third floor of the Mantra Hotel, in Preston, with approximately sixty-five other refugees. They have stopped us from seeing our friends and family. At first, they said we should be settled in PNG. We were crying that we don’t have rights — but they were very angry at us, and we didn’t feel safe. Sixty refugees and asylum seekers the were unexpectedly released from hotel detention by the government in January. I was in danger, and when people are in danger, they don’t know where they will escape to or where they can go. I came [from Manus Island] for medical treatment, to remove the shrapnel pieces in my shoulder and head. Why do you think the government locks you up, what is the political gain? One thousand two hundred twenty-six refugees have been sent to Australia and are living in the community on final departure bridging visas. But many thousands of people have protested to stop them confiscating our phones and computers. And after three years, we were allowed to go to the beach every time that we wanted to go outside. This time, I really want to say thank you for that. I remember the date because it was my birthday. If it is really for COVID-19, why do the officers return and work here with us? How important are the protests, and what do you think it’s going to take to win your freedom? Sometimes I paint. But I don’t have anything else. Refugees housed in the Melbourne Mantra hotel, currently housing people medically evacuated to Australia, are worried after a guard contracted coronavirus. Have you been able to see a counselor or a psychologist? In November 2014, Reza Barati was killed. It was a war against the Tamils. We managed like that. I sense that it is the most precious, precious thing that anyone can have in their life. Australia brought us here. It was a very difficult time. It’s like the bushfires that happened in Australia [over summer in 2019–20]. Sometimes we are sleeping. Every day there are forty-five security staff, for both day and night. How does the Mantra Hotel compare to Manus Island? I prefer to stay in my room all the time because the officers are always outside. I don’t know what will happen when we go outside. After the fighting in Sri Lanka ended, I was put in prison, in the camp where all Tamil civilians were held for more than one year. We are deprived of sunlight. We are protesting for freedom. We haven’t seen them for seven years — it’s been a very hard time. The men who have been detained inside the Mantra Hotel in Preston were told by the Australian Border Force on Monday they would soon be moved because the government’s contract with the hotel was expiring.

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