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Australia sends police reinforcements to quell unrest on Christmas Island

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Australia has deployed two planeloads of specialist police reinforcements to the country’s territory of Christmas Island, where unrest has erupted following the death of a migrant detainee.

The move took place on the Indian Ocean island on Tuesday upon a request from the country’s Immigration Department.

The island houses a detention facility, which accommodates asylum seekers awaiting processing and foreigners due to be deported as a result of criminal conviction.

The refugee, whose death sparked the unrest at the site, was identified as Fazel Chegeni, reportedly an Iranian Kurd. His body was found at the bottom of cliffs on the island on Monday. He had escaped the detention center over the weekend and the cause of his death remains unknown.

Death in a couple of hours?

The unrest has seen parts of the detention center being set on fire and as many as 20 to 30 detainees arming themselves with machetes and iron bars to confront the police.

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