The Wire

Refugee supporters gathered at the gates of Villawood Dentention Centre this week in a peaceful vigil as 9 of the centres detainees continued their week long hunger strike. The asylum seekers who have consumed only water since last thursday are protesting the removal of Ms Xiang Ju Hong, a Falun Gong practitioner who had been seeking asylum in Australia on the grounds she would be persecuted in China because of her pro-democracy beliefs. Ian Rintoul a spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition described to The Wire the abrupt manner of Ms Xiang’s removal.