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SYDNEY, Australia?Police here on Monday investigated a riot by 150 asylum-seekers at a remote island detention center after inmates reportedly attacked each other with pool cues, broomsticks, and tree branches, wounding 37.
Immigration Minister Chris Evans said the mass brawl broke out after an argument between Afghans and Sri Lankans on Christmas Island, Australia's main center for asylum-seekers far off its northwestern coast, late on Saturday.
"It seems like there was a fight between some Afghans and some Sri Lankans and that sort of escalated," Evans told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, rejecting claims of overcrowding.
The violence followed the arrival of scores more asylum-seekers on rickety people-smuggling boats in recent weeks, and the repatriation of some Sri Lankans after they were found not to be refugees.
Evans said some Sri Lankans had become concerned they would also be sent home and tensions could have arisen because most Afghans held at the center are ultimately given refugee status and resettled in Australia.
"That may well have been at the heart of some of the tensions in the center," Evans said.
"But essentially we have had a fight between some detainees which got out of hand and until there is a full police investigation, we are only really speculating as (to) what the real causes were."
Evans said despite the recent influx of detainees, the center was not overcrowded. He said those involved in the riot could face criminal charges once Australian Federal Police complete their investigation.
Three people were seriously hurt and were flown to Perth for treatment. Several guards also sustained minor injuries.
More than 40 boats carrying more than 2,000 asylum seekers, mostly from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Iraq, have arrived in Australian waters this year.
As of Friday, 1,184 were detained at Christmas Island, which recently moved to boost its capacity by installing temporary beds in a recreation area and shipping in portable buildings.
