The Australian government has confirmed there has been, what it calls, a disturbance at its Manus detention centre in Papua New Guinea last night.
The Refugee Action Coalition said earlier that reports said fences were knocked down, and a riot squad was called after protests escalated.
The Australian immigration minister, Scott Morrison, released a statement, saying it's reported Papua New Guinea police have arrested a number of transferees in relation to the disturbance.
He says a number of asylum seekers have received medical attention and there has been some minor property damage to the centre.
The chief executive officer for Lorengau Hospital on Manus Island, Dr Otto Numan, says late yesterday evening, he received a call from the detention centre, asking the hospital to be on alert.
There was mass outbreak and there may be some casualties so we should be on the alert in case our services was required. But since then, from then until this morning we have not had anything from them.
Dr. Otto Numan
