For four nights, the immigration detention center at Melbourne’s former Park Hotel became the home of world tennis number 1 Novak Djokovic, but the 32 people held there – some for years – under Australia’s strict immigration policy failed to notice.
Dozens of journalists, but also admirers, vaccine protesters and migrant rights activists, have gathered daily for several days in front of this grim five-story former hotel from which residents have no way out.
But Tuesday, the day after the court ruling restoring his freedom to the Serbian superstar amid cheers from his jubilant admirers, media attention went with him.
Only two television reporters are still in front of the hotel and no more demonstrators. A solitary sign reads: “Free Novak and all the refugees”, a slogan echoed by chalk graffiti on the facade.
“The media will talk more about us, the whole world probably, which is really sad because it is only due to the presence of Djokovic here for a few days,” one of the people told AFP on Thursday. in detention, Mehdi Ali, saddened to see his favorite player share his fate.
“3099 days”
During Djokovic’s detention, at least twenty refugee activists came to the hotel every day to sing, dance and hold up signs. Around them, a mixture of demonstrators of all stripes.
“I find it rather interesting that they demonstrate for Djokovic, who has been in detention for less than a day,” said activist Kim Matousek on the first day of the arrival of the tennis player at the center. “As for our friends, they’ve been in detention for, what, 3099 days now? “
The food served is of poor quality, she added. “Coleslaw smells of alcohol because it’s rotten, they don’t eat it. “
Men in detention had installed panels on the windows which read: “Nine years too old” or “Are we not human beings like you?” “
“No one should be locked in this rat hole,” said among the demonstrators in front of the hotel Deviani Segal, a 54-year-old piano teacher.
Coleslaw smells of alcohol because it’s rotten
The establishment had gained notoriety last December when a fire broke out there, forcing its evacuation and causing the hospitalization of a person.
A week later, asylum seekers posted photos on social media, claiming it was the food they were served, infested with maggots and accompanied by moldy bread.
“We are concerned that long after Djokovic returns to the lucrative world tennis circuit, these men are still in custody – many of them in their ninth year of detention by the Australian government,” the spokesperson said. by Refugee Action Collective, David Glanz. “These men, like all those who are detained, fled their country in search of safety. “
As part of Australia’s draconian immigration policy, migrants attempting to arrive by boat have for years been sent to detention centers on the small island of Nauru, in the Pacific, and across the Manus Island, Papua New Guinea.
“Great support”
Last year Australia and Papua New Guinea announced that their ‘regional resettlement agreement’ would officially end on December 31, 2021, but Nauru pledged to continue accepting Australian asylum seekers. .
All migrants do not have the same fate. Afghans who fled the Taliban have been granted asylum with the Australian government. They are temporarily accommodated just down the street from the old Park Hotel.
“The government has been very supportive,” one of these refugees, Qamaria Sharani, told AFP last week. “We left everything behind us,” she adds. We are here for a better future. For my children, in particular. “
She sympathized with those held in the old hotel. “It’s a very difficult time. They shouldn’t be there and, if possible, they should come out. “