Papua New Guinea officials remove last refugees from camp

The camp was closed after a court ruled Australia’s policy of housing asylum seekers there was unconstitutional. But the men fear for their safety in Lorengau because of threats from locals.

This image provided by Refugee Action Coalition shows the ransacked immigration camp on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, on Thursday. Papua New Guinea authorities on Thursday ratcheted up pressure on more than 300 asylum seekers to abandon a decommissioned immigration camp, where refugees reported their shelters, beds and other belongings have been destroyed.

The last asylum seekers have abandoned a closed immigration camp on Papua New Guinea, ending a three-week standoff between police and hundreds of men who had been prepared to suffer squalid conditions rather than move to alternative residences.

Police Chief Superintendent Dominic Kakas said on Friday police and immigration officials removed all 378 men from the male-only camp on Manus Island over two days and took them by bus to the nearby town of Lorengau.

Refugee advocates say officials used force and destroyed asylum seekers’ belongings to make them leave.

Video was released of officials in the camp wielding batons.

The camp was closed after a court ruled Australia’s policy of housing asylum seekers there was unconstitutional. But the men fear for their safety in Lorengau because of threats from locals.