Papua New Guinea police storm Manus Island detention centre and order asylum seekers to leave

Police from Papua New Guinea (PNG) have stormed a closed down Australia-run detention camp and confiscated food and water from protesting asylum seekers, according to reports.

Forces entered the camp on Manus Island, northern PNG, on Thursday (23 November) weeks after some 380 asylum seekers shut themselves in, defying Australian and PNG attempts to close the centre.

In a move often criticised by the UN and rights groups, Australia opened detention centres on Nauru and Manus islands in a bid to stem the flow of refugees travelling to the country. The government refuses to take in people who try to reach unofficially by boat.

The centre in Manus Island is located in an area used by the PNG navy. Police urged asylum seekers to leave as their stay was illegal. The centre officially closed on 31 October following a court order.

"They destroyed our food and damaged our accommodation too, they destroyed our water tank," one asylum-seeker told Reuters.

Footage posted on Facebook by Sudanese asylum seeker Abdul Aziz Adam shows asylum seekers chanting: "Human Rights, help us, they want to kill us".

He later said on Twitter that once police left, people were left "scared and depressed". He also posted pictures of upturned boxes and broken items scattered on the floor.

Asylum seekers refuse to be relocated to a transit centre - also on the island - as they fear they might be sent back to PNG or their country of origin.

Behrouz Boochani, a refugee who has been documenting conditions in the camp for years, was detained by police.

He wrote on Twitter on Thursday: "We are blockading right now. So many police and immigration officers are around us at this moment. They destroyed everything and our belongings and right now are shouting at us to leave the prison camp. I am tweeting from a toilet right now."

He later said he had been released. "I've just been released. They hancuffed [SIC] me for more than two hours in a place behind the prison camp. The police commander yelled at me 'you are reporting against us.' They pushed me several times and broke my belongings. Will write more about it later."

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters in Canberra that the transit centre facilities had food, water, security and medical services.

"They think this is some way they can pressure the Australian government to let them come to Australia. Well, we will not be pressured," he said.