Posted April 15, 2017 14:38:39

It was midway through 2016 when Manus Island residents first started raising concerns about the presence of asylum seekers and refugees in their communities.

In April, the PNG Supreme Court had found the men's detention on the island was illegal and ordered the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments to take steps to end it "forthwith".

Their response was not to free the men, but instead to give them access to the nearby township of Lorengau between 8am and 6pm and say they were no longer detained.

Not all of the asylum seekers took advantage of the day trips, but some soon found they could stay outside the centre with relative impunity, drink alcohol, start relationships with local women, and begin trading commodities such as cigarettes with locals.

The friction between the Manus community — which was not consulted about the day release — and asylum seekers began building immediately.

Local MP Ronny Knight raised numerous concerns about culturally inappropriate behaviour causing offence with the largely traditional population on Manus, who were wholly unprepared and generally unwilling to accept an influx of foreigners.

Mr Knight said the growing resentment would turn into violence, and he has been proven right.

Police ill-equipped to deal with rising tensions

The increasing number of asylum seekers arrested, beaten and threatened shows police on the island are ill-equipped to deal with the challenges of a frustrated cohort of foreign men in quasi-detention conditions.

Now, ironically, it was the PNG Police who defended the detention centre from attack by the PNG Defence Force (PNGDF) members stationed right next to it.

Photo: In April, the PNG Supreme Court had found the men's detention on the island was illegal. (Reuters)

The PNGDF says one of its officers was assaulted by asylum seekers playing soccer, but the asylum seekers say the man was drunk and being threatening.

There has been constant friction about the use of the soccer field since the detention centre supposedly came under the auspices of the naval base.

This was a recent attempt by the PNG Government to legitimise the ongoing restrictions and elements of detention still present on Manus.

But whatever caused the fight, the reaction was extreme.

Shooting sparked terror within complex

PNGDF personnel fired high-powered weapons into the centre, damaging buildings and sending staff and asylum seekers alike running for cover.

The Australian Government continues to say the weapon was discharged into the air, despite photos and video showing bullet holes, and a mangled bullet asylum-seekers say was recovered from a building in the centre.

I took phone calls from asylum-seekers during the shooting and could hear the shots.

It was not a small number of rounds.

There was sustained gunfire and clear terror inside the complex.

There is also footage which appears to show a car being rammed into a gate, and photos of the damaged gate, which now does not close properly.

While the attack was under way, busloads of men from the centre who were returning from Lorengau town were driven into the jungle to hide.

Photo: Asylum seekers say the shots left bullet holes in the accommodation buildings. (Supplied)

Australian staff withdrawn during shooting

Australian staff were withdrawn from the centre because of concerns about their safety.

But there is nowhere else for the asylum-seekers and refugees to go.

The Australian Government is banking on the United States taking most of the refugees from Manus Island so it can close the centre by the end of October.

Australia is not speaking to any other countries about taking the rest.

The PNG Government has been quietly but repeatedly saying it can't settle those who don't go overseas.

Local community angry

Previous extreme violence on Manus saw Iranian asylum seeker Reza Barati killed and dozens of men injured.

Each new episode of violence compounds the refugees' reluctance to settle in PNG.

Manus MP Ronny Knight says the people on the island are hard to rouse to anger.

But when angry, they are very hard to calm down.

He, other leaders on Manus Island and the asylum seekers now fear worse violence is yet to come.

Topics: community-and-society, immigration, refugees, police, law-crime-and-justice, papua-new-guinea