(CNN) -- Dozens of people seeking asylum in Australia after their boat crashed into cliffs along Christmas Island took part in two separate protests on the soil of their prospective home country, a spokesman for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship said Friday.
The demonstrators were protesting the conditions in their detention camp and claiming that the Australian Navy didn't do enough to save the lives of fellow asylum seekers. At least 28 people were killed when the boat smashed against rocks off the coast of the isolated Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, 1,600 miles northwest of Perth.
In the first protest, which started around 5 p.m., about 50 detainees in the Christmas Island Detention Center took issue with the lack of air conditioning in the compound, a result of a power outage across the island, Department of Immigration spokesman Steve Pivetta said.
In the second demonstration, as many as 70 protesters left the detention center and began a peaceful sit-in on the road out front to raise awareness of their fatal boat journey, Pivetta said. The detention facility is not a jail, so the detainees are free to walk outside. CNN
