Immigration detainees continue protests

Detainees are staging protests at immigration centres across the nation as federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott demanded action be taken to remove those staging rooftop sit-ins.

Six detainees are currently holding rooftop protests and a separate group are on hunger strike at immigration detention centres on Christmas Island.

A further three male detainees have started their second week on top of Sydney's Villawood Immigration Detention Centre.

And 50 Afghan detainees in WA have just ended a hunger strike at an immigration detention centre in Curtin, in WA's Kimberley region.

"These protests have to be ended and if it was happening in our streets ... the police would move in and they would sort it out," Mr Abbott told Macquarie Radio when asked about the rooftop detainees.

"And I don't think there's any fundamental difference here. It just has to be sorted out."

The Christmas Island protests began on Tuesday when a small group clambered onto rooftops at the Northwest Point facility.

The numbers have since fluctuated but at noon (AEST) on Wednesday, six men were on the roof, a Department of Immigration and Citizenship spokesman told AAP.

"The detention services provider is continuing to engage with the men to encourage them to come down," he said.

"Water is available to them."

A group of detainees at the Phosphate Hill detention centre, on Christmas Island, have advised they are now on hunger strike, the spokesman added.

It follows substantial riots among Christmas Island detainees in mid-March.

And at Villawood three detainees - Majid Parhizkar, 24, from Iran, and stateless Kurdish men Mehdi Darabi, 24 and Amir Morad, 22, - remain on the roof.

They have been there for a week.

Their prolonged protest follows a riot at the centre involving up to 100 detainees who destroyed nine buildings by setting them on fire.

There were reports on Wednesday that an epileptic detainee allegedly involved in the violence was subsequently bashed by a group of Fijians angry that visiting rights were withdrawn.

"He has been bashed around the head. He's got a black eye and a swollen nose. He looks like he's been assaulted," refugee advocate Fabia Claridge told the ABC.

Meanwhile, a peaceful protest by 50 Afghans at WA's Curtin Immigration Detention Centre ended on Tuesday and the centre is calm, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship spokesman added.

He was unable to confirm if food is being withheld from the Villawood trio.

Mark Goudkamp, from the Refugee Action Coalition, claimed hunger strike conditions were being "imposed" upon the men, with food being withheld.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen on Tuesday said the group had "not been taking food".

Mr Bowen unveiled plans on Tuesday to change the Migration Act so that any detainee involved in criminal activity would be denied a permanent protection visa.

[Source : AAP]