Police enter Australia's closed detention centre

Police in Papua New Guinea (PNG) on Thursday entered a former Australian-run detention centre in a bid to get asylum seekers who remain there to leave.

Hundreds of men have refused to leave the Manus Island centre Australia shut it down on October 31 after a PNG court ruled it was unconstitutional, urging asylum seekers to move to transit centres elsewhere on the island, reports the BBC.

One refugee, Abdul Aziz Adam, said about 420 asylum seekers remained in the centre on Thursday, and they would act only peacefully.

He said a large number of PNG police officers had entered the compound and gave them a one-hour deadline to leave.

"They had a really big microphone in their hands and started telling people 'you have to move'. They are taking all the phones away, destroying all the rooms and belongings and everything," he told the BBC.

The men have refused to leave because of fears they will be attacked in the local community.

Under a controversial policy, Australia has detained asylum seekers who arrive by boat in camps on Manus Island and Nauru, a small Pacific nation.

Meanwhile, the Australian government has repeatedly said that alternative accommodation for the refugees was ready.

However, the UN's Refugee Agency said on Tuesday that housing remained "under construction", was inadequately secured, and lacked "the most basic services" such as a medical care.

Refugees had been given the option of permanent resettlement in PNG, applying to live in Cambodia, or requesting a transfer to Nauru. Advocates say few have taken up these options, reports the BBC.

The US has agreed to take up to 1,250 refugees from Manus Island and Nauru under a resettlement deal.

New Zealand has offered to take 150 refugees from the PNG centre, but Canberra has resisted this proposal - arguing it would effectively be a "back door" to Australia.

--IANS

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