Refugees and asylum seekers moved from Mantra hotel in Melbourne

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.

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.

Protesters had gathered outside the Mantra since Monday after the men were told they would be transferred to another location. Several people were arrested after the detainees were driven away from the site.

Refugees detained in Melbourne hotel ‘devastated’ as they await move to another site

Read more

The Park Hotel was formerly known as the Carlton Rydges Hotel on Swanston Street which was previously used as a Covid-19 quarantine hotel for returned travellers.

About 30 protesters followed the refugees to the Swanston Street hotel before they were cleared by dozens of police officers.

One protester was arrested amid minor scuffles with the police.

A refugee, Mostafa “Moz” Azimitabar, told Guardian Australia about midday the men were yet to receive any further information about their new place of detention.

He was hopeful conditions would be better at the new site.

The men have been held at the hotel since being flown to Australia from Manus Island under the now-repealed medevac laws last year.

Earlier, witnesses at the Mantra in Preston, said a large number of police had gathered, including mounted officers, as the belongings of some detainees were loaded onto a bus.

Moz_azimi
(@AzimiMoz)

Breaking : We are being transferred to another detention.#auspoI pic.twitter.com/CQdQWfdhgA

December 16, 2020

Alison Battisson, a lawyer who represents some of those who were detained at the Mantra, sharply criticised the move on Thursday.

“It’s sad and disappointing that the government continues to ignore the law which requires the release of these gentlemen, not the transfer in militaristic conditions to an undisclosed place of detention,” she said.

‘Suffered more than many’: how Canada and Europe are resettling Australia’s refugees

Read more

The men had been hopeful they would be released into the community after five asylum seekers who came to Australia through the medevac legislation were last week granted visas. Those hopes were dashed on Monday when the detainees were told they would be moved.

The human rights campaigner and former Socceroos captain Craig Foster said on Thursday the decision to move the men rather than release them meant “uncertainty” and “ongoing trauma”.

“This is us, Australia,” he tweeted. “When are we going to stop the ridiculous facade and let these refugees, these humans, go?”

Craig Foster
(@Craig_Foster)

Another move. More incarceration. Ill treatment. Uncertainty, ongoing trauma. This is us, Australia. When are we going to stop the ridiculous facade and let these refugees, these humans, go? Almost 8 years now. It’s beyond disgusting. #GameOver https://t.co/GDYZ4QFwCj

December 16, 2020

A Victoria police spokesperson said: “Police will be in the Preston area to provide security overlay and public order assistance in an operation led by the Australian border force.”

The Department of Home Affairs was approached for comment. On Monday it said the contract with the Mantra was ending and the men would be taken to another site in Melbourne, and no one who had been under the regional processing regime would be settled in Australia.