Asylum-seekers hope Djokovic’s stay at hotel will help their cause
The hotel has been criticised in the past for being a below-average option to detain refugees entering Australia.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic was transferred to a detention center at the Park Hotel in Carlton, after a 10-hour stay at Melbourne's Tullamarine airport. The hotel has been criticized in the past for having less-than-average options for deterring refugees entering Australia. The hotel was particularly in the media spotlight during the ongoing pandemic, when asylum seekers complained of being in danger due to the conditions in which they were held.
Try to give up
What began with an Instagram post informing Djokovic of Djokovic's upcoming return with a medical waiver in his pocket turned into a legal battle to determine his moment on Monday. Djokovic is said to file his case under Australian jurisdiction over why he should be allowed into the country. Till then he will have to stay at the Park Hotel. According to reports from Serbia, his attempts to leave the hotel and be with his team were repulsed.
'Animals can't eat this food'
Currently, there are 36 detainees at the Park Hotel and, according to The Guardian, some have been around for more than eight years. While Djokovic's views on a COVID-19 vaccine have disappointed many, his stay at the hotel has once again drawn attention to the poor treatment of Australia's refugees and asylum seekers.
Asylum seekers have said that there have been cases of insects and mold in the food provided by the hotel. These news came out two days before the new year. “I was just shocked. The food they are providing is putting people in danger,” Mustafa Salah, an asylum seeker in Iraq, told SBS News on Wednesday. “Not even an animal can eat this kind of food. Is."
Salah was 14 when he was brought to Australia when he sought asylum in Australia with his father. The pair were detained in Nauru for a few years before being moved to Melbourne in 2019.
A week before this report, the hotel had caught fire. The men complained that they were not evicted from the building and footage from Australian news channels showed the men being kept on level one guarding the entrance to the hotel. The fire meant that the detainees had no access to the laundry room or gym.
Thirty six prisoners
The Park Hotel isn't the only detention center that has faced complaints from asylum seekers. In 2015, a report stated that human teeth were found in food served to an asylum-seeker at a detention center on Manus Island. In September 2020, a news report by SBS said that Brisbane's Kangaroo Point Hotel had more than 100 detainees, some of whom were Muslims, and had not been served halal food for more than a year. The detainees filed a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission.
"After research and investigation, we found that the food provided by Circo is not Halal food and it is from the beginning upon arrival in Brisbane," Iranian captive Amin Afrawi told SBS. The Park Hotel accommodates 124 asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea and 100 in Nauru, along with 36 detainees.
A boon for longtime residents?
While to the outside world, especially Melbourne, Djokovic and his anti-vaccination stand are almost seen as an insult to the harsh lockdown that most Australians had to endure. But for an asylum seeker who has been imprisoned in a detention center for nine years, Djokovic's presence could be a blessing.
Mehdi, a refugee who spent nine years in custody, told Guardian Australia: "There's one disappointment: everyone wants to ask me about Novak, what the hotel is like for him. But they don't ask about us. "I've never had so many cameras. Don't see, so much attention. I hope Novak Djokovic learns about our position here and I hope he talks about it.
