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Immigrants relocated from park to shelter after pressure
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Undocumented immigrants in Batam wait for buses that will transport them from Aspirasi Park to Tanjung Pinang Immigration Detention Center and Kolekta Hotel. (JP/Fadli)
B
atam Immigration Office relocated 104 undocumented immigrants from various countries who had been living in a squalid condition in makeshift tents in Aspirasi Park in Batam to Tanjung Pinang Immigration Center and Kolekta Hotel on Thursday.
The head of Batam Immigration Office Teguh Prayitno said Thursday that he received an approval from immigration director general Ronny Sompie to relocate the immigrants from Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq to the detention center in Tanjung Pinang and the shelter managed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Kolekta Hotel in Batam.
“They have been in the park too long,” Teguh said.
Earlier on Sunday, a mob came to the park and threatened to dismantle and burn the tents. The police and local volunteers stopped them.
On Thursday, dozens of National Police, Indonesian Military and Batam Public Order Agency personnel helped the immigrants relocate by transporting them to their respective shelters using ten buses.
Abdul Khosim, 28, who immigrated from Afghanistan, said he did not know what was in store for him after the relocation. “I have been in the park for three months and in Indonesia for almost two years. I will be happy if I get a more decent place,” he said in Indonesian.
The immigrants came illegally to Batam and the IOM was not responsible for them. They began living in the park after erecting plastic tents. (evi)
