LORENGAU – A stand-off between asylum seekers and guards at a compound inside the Manus Island detention centre has been resolved, according to a Papua New Guinea government spokesman.

The spokesman said chief

immigration officer Mataio Rabura entered Delta block and negotiated an end to the blockade, allowing dehydrated protesters to get medical treatment.

The spokesman also said security guards were involved, and that police were in attendance but they did not take part in the intervention.

There were no serious injuries, according to the spokesman, although some detainees had to be restrained.

Asylum seekers in other compounds who witnessed the confrontation reported people being beaten, dragged on the ground and handcuffed.

Discussions are reportedly continuing between leaders of the protest and Rabura.

Neither the claims from the asylum seekers nor the PNG government can be independently verified.

Detainees in Delta compound had been preventing staff from entering and were refusing food and water on what was the seventh day of protests at the facility.

The asylum seekers who barricaded themselves inside the compound at the Manus Island detention centre earlier said police and guards were preparing to enter the compound by force.

They were protesting against the prospect of refugees being resettled in PNG.

One asylum seeker, David, has been at the centre for 18 months.

“Every day the government of Australia, they’re telling us something like ‘tomorrow, we are going to release some people tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, the day after now’ – it’s almost two years and nothing happened,” he told the ABC’s 7.30 programme.

He said if Australia was not willing to take them, the United Nations should find other countries who would, but he said Papua New Guinea was not an option.

“Here is not a safe country. The reason I say that – we are inside the compound every single day, we witness something terrible happening outside.”

Australia’s Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton earlier urged protesters to “cease their aggressive actions and allow service providers to enter compounds and provide services especially to those not participating in protest activity”.

But Opposition Leader Bill Shorten criticised the government for not being transparent enough about the situation on Manus Island.

“Whatever one’s perspective, I think all Australians are unhappy about a culture of secrecy,” he said.

“These people are directly or indirectly in the care of Australia, and the government just needs to come clean about what is happening.”

While the Delta block protest has reportedly calmed, other protests are continuing at Oscar, Mike and Foxtrot componds.

These are lower-key protests – men chanting, hanging up banners with slogans and, in some cases, engaging in self-harm, the ABC reports.

Former Manus Island security guard Steve Kilburn said he could not see how the detention centre could function in a harmonious way.

“There is a big cultural difference that needs to be overcome between particularly the PNG locals and the transferees,” he said.

“I think there are things that could be done to make life better and easier for everyone and my understanding is that some of those things have been done – there have been some improvements.

“But at the end of the day, and as I clearly stated, I can’t see how this is ever going to work.”

He said there would be resentment among locals on the island if detainees found to be refugees were released into the community.

“I raised a couple of those issues where we had members of the PNG defence force who were drunk turning up, threatening people. We had people with guns, we had clashes between the PNG police and the PNG defence force.”

Kilburn said there were many issues on the island that needed addressing.

“And for the locals – adding this into the mix – I don’t think anyone’s safe up there.”