The Australian government has said that many of the immigrants involved in a big riot at one of the country's main detention centres had had their asylum applications rejected.
The centre was set on fire during the riot.
Demonstrations began late yesterday local time at the Villawood Detention Centre in western Sydney, with an estimated 100 detainees involved at the height of the drama.
Firefighters were at one stage pelted with roof tiles and pieces of furniture as they tried to douse the blazes, and riot police were called in to protect them.
A computer room, kitchen, medical facilities and a laundry were among the buildings destroyed.
By daybreak, the fires had been extinguished and the situation at the centre was under control.
A spokesman for the Immigration Department, Sandy Logan, defended the Government's handling of the detainees' asylum claims and condemned the 'appalling' behaviour of rioters.
'At one stage many of the protestors were hurling roof tiles and pieces of furniture, and other clumps of wood at the firefighters,' Mr Logan said, adding that 'miraculously' no injuries had been reported.
