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Almost 100 people of all ages recently gathered in Bega to protest the deportation of 267 asylum seekers to Nauru.
On Monday, February 8, the Let Them Stay rally was held in Littleton Gardens as part of a series of similar demonstrations around the nation.
The number of people who turned up on Monday afternoon revealed the concern the Bega Valley community has for asylum seekers, as organisers only began planning on Sunday afternoon.
“Within 24 hours this many people have showed up!” rally organiser Jenny Spinks said at the event.
The Let Them Stay demonstrations were organised after the High Court’s decision on February 3, where it found the federal government has the power under the constitution to detain people in other countries.
Now, 267 asylum seekers currently in Australia may be returned to the detention centre on Nauru.
Some suffer from cancer and terminal illnesses, and the number includes 37 babies born in Australia.
At the rally in Bega, all those who attended gathered in a circle and about 12 people spoke about the High Court’s decision and refugees.
“Everybody felt a deep shame that our government is prepared to treat people this way,” Ms Spinks said.
“I believe, essentially, that we are compassionate, we are generous and we can make space for each other.”
She said if the Australian government continued to behave in this way it would become a similar to the situation during South Africa’s apartheid, where the government had “turned away from people”.
In good news for the demonstrators, after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews offered to care for the asylum seekers in his state NSW Premier Mike Baird said he was prepared for NSW to support the young refugees.
Also, 10 Anglican churches and cathedrals in Australia have invoked the ancient Christian tradition of sanctuary to offer protection to the 267 people.