More than 70 immigration detainees have broken out of the Darwin detention centre and are holding a mass protest on the side of a busy road.
Earlier, Northern Territory Police said 92 men were involved in the escape.
Two of the asylum seekers have told the ABC they were from Afghanistan and had been waiting for eight months in detention. They say they have now been refused refugee status in Australia.
The situation is relatively calm, however the asylum seekers have gathered along a busy Darwin road yelling out to media crews.
The detainees say they escaped by going out a door.
Northern Territory Police say they are gathering their resources in preparation to remove the detainees.
Duty Superintendent Louise Jorgensen says the protest is peaceful.
"We received a call that the number of detainees had breached the security, gone out the fence," she said.
"It would appear that they've got together in a group ... and they're peacefully protesting their situation."
Earlier witness Donna Mansfield said police cars had converged on the area and she saw around 15 people under guard on the side of the Stuart Highway.
"There's about 10 police cars there and it looks like it's the actual people from the detention centre sitting out along the highway with a sheet with writing on it saying: 'We need protection, not detention'," she said.
Another riot, also involving up to 100 people, broke out at the Darwin centre over the weekend.
The Immigration Department says the weekend protest began when two men climbed a tree and refused to come down, and escalated to involve the majority of the Indonesian crew members being detained in the centre for alleged people smuggling.
à lire également http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/30/2996715.htm
Updated
The riot involved almost 100 people (ABC TV)
Federal and Northern Territory police are investigating the cause of yesterday's riot at the Darwin Detention Centre.
Order has now been restored after the riot, involving up to 100 people, broke out over the weekend. The Immigration Department says the protest began when two men climbed a tree and refused to come down, and escalated to involve the majority of the Indonesian crew members being detained in the centre for alleged people smuggling.
At first the department told the ABC the men were protesting over delays to their criminal cases but later refused to speculate about the nature of their grievances.
As the riot unfolded, a large fire was lit outside and about a dozen men climbed onto the roof and were seen bashing it with long poles.
Federal police may lay charges for assault and affray as well as property damage.
The Immigration Department says a guard was treated at the scene for minor injuries.
Spokesman Sandi Logan refused to be drawn on what sparked the riot but it is understood the inmates are angry about the length of time it has taken to have their charges heard in the courts.
"When you are allegedly involved in people smuggling there are investigations, quite rightly so, which must be undertaken and the police are doing their job in that respect," Mr Logan said.
"Some of the other people smugglers are currently before the courts and so those matters need to be tested in the courts under the justice system that prevails in Australia, and if that does take some time, well then so be it."
Mr Logan is urging the inmates to cooperate with authorities.
Growing frustration
Under federal laws, crew members onboard asylum seeker boats are charged with people-smuggling offences, which carry a minimum sentence of five years in jail.But Asylum Seeker Resource Centre spokeswoman Pamela Curr says it can take many months for the charges to be heard.
She says the weekend incident highlights the growing frustration among detainees.
"The length of time is just blowing out of all proportion. I mean the fishermen, why haven't they just simply been charged and gone before the courts and had their matters heard?" she said.
"Why are they sitting there waiting for months? The people smugglers, most of them are either teenagers or young Indonesian fishermen who have, for as little as $50, brought people over. They are not people smugglers in the politicians' sense of the word."
Ms Curr says it is extremely difficult to know exactly what is happening at the detention centre because of tight restrictions on communication imposed by the Department of Immigration and the contractor, Serco Australia.
"In order for us to make contact, we can't ring in, we have to wait for people to ring out. So if Immigration and Serco decide that they don't want any information to come out, they block the phones," she said.
Australian Federal Police officers are investigating the weekend riot and charges could be laid.
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