100 Afghan Refugees Willing To Skip Breakfast For The Cost Of Public Transportation To Demonstration Locations In Riau Islands

Around 100 refugees from Afghanistan demonstrated at the UNHCR Representative Office Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands. (Antara-Nikolas Panama)

KEPRI - As many as 100 refugees from Afghanistan fly four foreign flags in front of the UNHCR office or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Tanjungpinang City, Riau Islands (Kepri), Tuesday, July 19.

The flags flown are the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand flags. The spokesman for the refugees from Afghanistan, Yahya, hoped the four countries would accept them.

"We hope to live in Australia, the United States, Canada, or New Zealand. That hope is there if UNHCR takes care of it", Yahya said at the location, Tuesday, July 19.

Yahya revealed that demonstrations were not only energy-consuming but also quite expensive.

Some immigrants, he continued, were forced to skip breakfast so that the money that is usually used to provide food in the morning, could be used to rent public transportation.

The demonstrators used public transportation from the Bhadra Hotel, Bintan Regency, Riau Islands, a refugee camp to the UNHCR Tanjungpinang Representative Office.

"We have to spend IDR 4 million for one action. The money was a donation from friends", he said, according to Antara.

Yahya admitted that demonstrations were not the best option for the refugees. However, this demonstration needs to be done to get the government's attention of the destination country.

The demonstration, which is the 10th in the last 10 months, has not produced the same results as several recent meetings with UNHCR.

"We have made efforts to negotiate, but failed. This demonstration is the last resort as our effort to immediately stay in the country we are going to", he said.

The refugees had previously held demonstrations at the Riau Islands Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) Office, Riau Islands Provincial Government Office, and Tanjungpinang DPRD.

This time the action was escorted by the police. However, none of the UNHCR representatives met the protesters.

"We want local governments to help us, encourage UNHCR to immediately take us to Australia, the United States, Canada, or New Zealand", he said.