Protests continue at Manus Island

Refugee advocates say security staff at Manus Island detention centre have seized the leaders of a hunger strike and put them in a high-security isolation unit.

Asylum seekers during a hunger strike at the Manus Island detention centre.

Supplied image obtained Sunday, Jan. 18. 2015 of asylum seekers during a hunger strike at the Manus Island detention centre. (AAP Image/Refugee Action Collective)

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul says the riot squad also attempted to force water down the throat of two unconscious asylum seekers in the compound.

Deputy premier Warren Truss could not confirm the reports but says new Immigration Minister Peter Dutton will be seeking to do that, amid a flow of information that's not always reliable.

Mr Truss says the government wants to ensure that people in the processing centres are well cared for, but repeated the message that anyone who arrives by boat without a visa will not be resettled in Australia.

A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said food and water continued to be available to the protesters, despite some claims to the contrary.

Most of the men in the centre received meals on Sunday, the spokesperson said.

But normal services and supplies in some parts of the centre have been affected by the "disruptive behaviour of some transferees".

Normal services will resume in those areas as soon as the situation allows.


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