Not necessarily. Americans, particularly the military, have a tradition of rising to meet such challenges to their authority and presence.
Posted on 06/28/2002 7:31:33 AM PDT by yankeedame
Ruddock blamed for woes at Woomera
By Penelope Debelle
June 29 2002
South Australia's Police Minister, Pat Conlon, has accused the Federal Immigration Minister of arrogance for having failed to address the chronic problems at the Woomera detention centre.
The minister's comments came after 38 asylum seekers were sprung from the centre on Thursday night. Three refugee activists from Melbourne have been charged with aiding their escape.
Mr Conlon said yesterday: "We have had detention centres in Australia since the late 1980s and none of them have these ongoing problems."
Yesterday, two women and a man from Melbourne were arrested at a roadblock 14 kilometres north of Port Augusta and were expected to be bailed last night. Another man, from Hobart, was arrested at Roxby Downs, 80 kilometres south of Woomera, also in relation to the escape. A 14-year-old boy was among a group of four detainees recaptured by police at the opal mining town of Coober Pedy, 360 kilometres north of Woomera. Last night 30 escapees, including two children, were still not found. The boy was returned to his family at Woomera while the three men were brought to Adelaide to be interviewed. Another detainee was also captured and returned to Woomera.
The South Australian Government announced it would bill the Federal Government for the cost of police and emergency services used to hunt down escapees from the centre. Mr Conlon sent a bill for $540,000 to Mr Ruddock after 50 asylum seekers escaped from Woomera at Easter.
The Immigration Minister, Phillip Ruddock, said up to seven vehicles were used to help the asylum seekers escape, although he denied they had driven in through the front gate.
A previously unknown group called Our Sacred Earth claimed responsibility for the break-out.
Inside Woomera yesterday, mobile phones were disconnected and lawyers shut out in a security clampdown. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commissioner, Dr Sev Ozdowski, was still able to complete a second day of interviews.
The phones, issued to detainees by centre managers ACM before a visit last month by the UN's human rights delegation, were cancelled for "operational reasons".
More than 100 people, including 13 children, continued a hunger strike at the centre in protest over their detention
Not necessarily. Americans, particularly the military, have a tradition of rising to meet such challenges to their authority and presence.
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