SYDNEY - A small group of refugee supporters spent Easter Monday outside Sydney's Villawood detention centre in support of eight Chinese detainees in the 13th day of a hunger strike.
About 30 people today gathered outside the centre, which Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said had been closed to all visitors.
The Chinese, deemed illegal immigrants by Australian authorities, have been on hunger strike since March 28 in protest at forced deportations, Mr Rintoul said.
One, Ms Yuan Huimil, was taken to hospital on Wednesday, but has since returned to Villawood after receiving rehydration treatment.
On Friday, another of the hunger strikers, Li Ming Zhi, aged in his mid-40s, was taken to hospital after his eyesight began to fail, Mr Rintoul said.
He had now returned to Villawood, but was still on hunger strike.
"He still has eyesight problems. He can't see properly."
Another of the hunger strikers, An Xiang Tao, was being held incommunicado after receiving medical treatment last week, he said.
Mr An, a member of the Falun Gong movement, and a democracy activist, Mr Liu (eds: other name not available), also on hunger strike, were being held in isolation, Mr Rintoul said.
"They are being held incommunicado. No-one can actually visit or make phone calls," he said. "(Other) detainees can't see them."
The detention centre had been closed to all visitors, Mr Rintoul said, but the Refugee Action Coalition was hoping to gain access later today.
The hunger strikers were very weak on the last occasion he saw them, four days ago, he said.
"They almost had to be carried on Thursday," he said. "They're visibly distressed, very weak. They have difficultly sustaining a conversation."
A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said any medical treatment for the hunger strikers would be decided on a case-by-case basis.
"We're monitoring them very closely," she said.
She also said there were only eight people on full hunger strike, not nine as had been claimed.
The Refugee Action Coalition insists there are nine, and says another 15 inmates are on "wet hunger strike" and taking some fluids.
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