Fed: Christmas Island residents stage protest at Tampa rejection

AAP General News (Australia)
08-31-2001
Fed: Christmas Island residents stage protest at Tampa rejection

By Catharine Munro

The Settlement, CHRISTMAS ISLAND, Aug 31 AAP - Residents of Christmas Island staged
a protest today against the federal government's decision to stop 460 asylum seekers from
landing on their shores.

About 300 protesters gathered at Flying Fish Cove and also condemned the closure of
their port, which has stopped commercial fishing and diving over the past week.

A procession of schoolchildren dressed in Islamic clothing and carrying signs saying
"I Want Fish for Dinner" and "Save Our Little Brothers and Sisters" kicked off the late
afternoon event.

Christmas Island has become the centre of international attention since the Norwegian
freighter Tampa was blocked from docking here by the federal government, which did not
want the asylum seekers rescued by the freighter to land.

The secretary of the Union of Christmas Island Workers, Gordon Thomson, addressed the
residents, saying, "We are a multicultural community which the prime minister (John Howard)
wants to destroy."

"The residents of Christmas Island are a community of tolerance."

More than 80 per cent of the Christmas Island population of about 2000 is either Malay
or Chinese.

During the rally, fishing and diving operators drove their motor boats down to the
wharf and attempted to launch them.

Police prevented them from entering the water.

Two women, one with `Let them land' written on her back, later lowered kayaks into
the water in protest against the closing of the port.

Norway's Ambassador to Australia, Ove Thorsheim, was taken out to the Tampa on a military
boat this morning to visit the ship's captain and crew.

Late this afternoon he was still on the boat, which is sitting on the horizon in Australian
waters.

One fisherman also dragged his outboard dinghy into the water and sped off towards the
Tampa but was forced to return to shore by a police boat.

AAP cm/lsg/wjf/mjm/sb

KEYWORD: BOAT PROTEST

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