Chinese refugees on hunger strike want NZ residency

By ALAN PERROTT

About 100 cold and desperate Chinese refugees are staging a hunger strike in central Auckland to persuade the Government to grant them New Zealand residency.

The refugees are angry at being excluded from the partial overstayer amnesty announced by Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel.

The group of men, women and children began setting themselves up on the green in Aotea Square early yesterday, with groundsheets, banners, water and the spare clothes, jackets and collective spirit needed for warmth.

A bitter wind kept most spectators from lingering as the refugees organised themselves - 40 hard-core hunger strikers in front wearing white headbands and a larger group of protesters providing support from the rear.

An indication of their seriousness arrived at 10 am in the form of a portable toilet.

The first official visitors to be welcomed were police officers, who passed on a warning of the undesirable elements likely to arrive and the cold night-time temperatures that will definitely arrive.

But organiser Jane Yao, a former Chinese journalist who was caught up in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in Beijing, remained adamant they would stay until someone from the Government arrived to discuss their claims.

She said the looming Sunday deadline for new immigration laws had left many people scared. Her group had decided to protest now because many would be too afraid to turn out after the deadline in case they were deported.

Ms Dalziel said refugees could not be included in the overstayer amnesty because it would allow people to use such claims as a backdoor into New Zealand.

A refugee amnesty was impossible because of an amendment passed last year by the National Government, she said.

The amendment, aimed at preventing a repeat of the long-running deportation saga over Irishman Danny Butler, banned anyone who failed to gain asylum status from seeking another form of residency permit.

Ms Dalziel has agreed to review personally the case of any failed asylum-seeker who fulfils the "well-settled" amnesty criteria.

Dr Nagalingam Rasalingam, president of the Refugee Council, was pleased with Ms Dalziel's concessions. But he blamed much of the anxiety and fear on the "ad hoc and quick" way in which the new legislation had been introduced.

While he respected the hunger strikers' right to protest, Dr Rasalingam said: "I think their action is premature. We are making every effort to ensure this situation is resolved."

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