Immigrants in Australia breakout

Afghan refugees celebrate freedom in Woomera

Australian police have rushed reinforcements to a remote desert town after more than 500 illegal immigrants broke out of a detention centre.

They were running, chanting, screaming, going in all directions

Woomera resident Dave Kirby

About 200 immigrants - mainly "boat people" from Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan - first broke out at around midnight on Wednesday and ran through the town shouting "We want freedom".

Another 250 broke out at noon on Thursday and a third group pushed down the fence again in daylight.

Residents say the town's only policeman was powerless to stop them.

A large contingent of police from Adelaide, 350km (217 miles) away, has cordoned off the centre of the town where the immigrants are holding a demonstration.

Several guards were seriously assaulted at the former rocket base - reopened last year to cope with an increase in immigrants illegally smuggled in from Indonesia - and one remains in a critical condition.

Numbers of 'boat people' in Australia have been rising

One unnamed Iraqi protester blamed poor conditions at the centre which houses 1,400 people, and waiting times for applications for refugee status.

The immigrants also wanted better access to telephones to call with family and friends.

He said: "They wouldn't listen at all. They just gave us false promises for more than seven months."

Australia's rising tide of 'boat people'

1999-2000 YTD: 1,066

1998-99: 926

1997-98: 157

1996-97: 356

Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said he was unaware of any demands by the group.

"(But) sometimes people have been lied to by people smugglers, they are misled about their entitlements when they get to Australia. They often have unrealistic expectations."

Many at Woomera have been held for about eight months since they arrived illegally on boats from Indonesia.

There has been a dramatic rise in the number of 'boat people' in the past 18 months, particularly from China and the Middle East, where criminal gangs organise runs.

Mr Ruddock said last year: "We are facing the biggest assault to our borders by unauthorised arrivals ever."

Woomera - headquarters for Britain's atomic bomb tests in the 1950s - is one of six detention centres in Australia housing a total of around 3,600 illegal immigrants.