Papua New Guinea officials remove last refugees from camp
CANBERRA, Australia — Papua New Guinea authorities said Friday they had relocated the last asylum seekers who had refused for three weeks to leave a closed immigration camp for fear they would face violence in the alternative accommodations.
Police Chief Superintendent Dominic Kakas said police and immigration officials removed all 378 men from the male-only camp on Manus Island over two days and took them by bus to residences in the nearby town of Lorengau.
“Everybody’s gone. Everybody got on the buses, they packed their bags and they moved over,” Kakas said.
Refugee advocates say officials used force and destroyed asylum seekers’ belongings to make them leave Manus.