Protest re government lies about refugees
11 January 2003

Just after Christmas 2002, several fires occurred in different detention centres.

Of course, many of us would have supported refugees burning the place down anyway, but refugees told us the first fires were in fact started by electrical faults, which they had brought to the attention of the guards who just ignored them.

When the fires occurred, Immigration Department let it be thought - and actually pushed the line - that refugees had started the fires.

We distributed many thousands of leaflets with background facts about these fires. Read the leaflet (html)

In early January, even though we knew the demo would be small, we did it anyway, as we did so many times, so that those thousands of people who knew, or even just suspected, that the government was lying could find a rallying point and start to build opposition to these desert concentration camps. The fact that even small numbers of anti-racists came out again and again to stand up for refugee rights meant that over time the campaign drew more support, and ultimately the government was shown to be the liar and the criminal in case after case.