Asylum seekers arrested after riot at detention center in PNG

Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison issued a statement on Monday morning confirming that asylum seekers clashed with security personnel on Sunday at the Australian-run detention center on Manus Island in northern Papua New Guinea, with 19 transferees injured and eight arrested. "It is reported that Papua New Guinea police have arrested a number of transferees in relation to the incident," the statement said. Morrison later told Fairfax Radio the incident last for more than an hour. "I understand that last night there were 35 transferees who, following a meeting with some of the local center staff about a range of issues, took down a section of fence and they absconded from the center," he said. They were quickly recaptured, the immigration minister said. Morrison said 19 transferees were treated at the center's clinic for injuries, but "none of which was involving any sort of life threatening or serious conditions of that nature" and eight were arrested. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday that the "only way to avoid this kind of thing was to stop the boats." "If you come to Australia illegally by boat this is, I'm afraid, what happens to you. As far as this government is concerned the way is shut," he said