According to reports, windows were smashed and police were forced to intervene, with one officer sustaining minor injuries.
Minister for Immigration Alexander Russell Downer and Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Selwyn Porter declared that all perpetrators would be reprimanded.
The media reported that Italians were the main suspects – and that the protest was violent.
Among all of the false accounts circulating, the most important point was missed: the reason behind the protest.
For months on end, immigrants have been left stranded in the barracks of the camp, far removed from communities and cities where there are more contacts, support and information.
We no longer want to report on the actual protest, not because we want to downplay the event, but because it is already public knowledge after various media outlets have provided exaggerated and inaccurate accounts.
All we will say is that last Monday’s protest, staged predominantly by Italians and Germans, was one of the mildest and cannot be compared to the protest at the same camp in 1952, when army personnel intervened with tanks.
Among other differences, there were more than 2000 Italians at the camp back then, as opposed to some 120 today.
The damage reported on Monday was four – just four – smashed windows.
Pictured are (left to right): a group of Italians in front of a barrack in Block 13 of the camp; a “barber” cutting his friend’s hair with a blade; an Italian toddler with her bowl of rations at the entrance of her barrack; and a father and daughter with their rations of mashed potatoes and boiled meat. (Photos: Tarsitano)
