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Tuesday June 13 1:44 PM ET
VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Illegal Chinese immigrants who ransacked a Canadian prison dormitory have been moved to other facilities while officials investigate the cause of the protest, a prison spokesman said on Tuesday.
The 49 protesters have been in custody since last summer when they arrived illegally on Canada's Pacific Coast in four dilapidated smuggling boats.
According to British Columbia Corrections Department officials, the protesters surrendered late on Monday after a series of small incidents that began on Sunday night at the Alouette River correctional facility, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Vancouver.
Authorities said they believe the prisoners were angry that they would be forced to return to China. Prison officals hoped to know more after a meeting with a migrant-rights advocate who had talked privately with the protesters, corrections spokesman Sheldon Green said.
The protesters were among nearly 600 Chinese detained after they were captured by Canadian authorities last summer.
Canada has denied refugee status to nearly all the boat people, and authorities have said tensions at the migrant detention centers have risen since a group of 90 illegal immigrants was returned to China in early May.
Authorities believe the smuggling gangs that operated the boats planned to move the migrants through Canada to the United States, where they would then force the people to work off the thousands of dollars charged for the trip.
Canadian immigration and defense officials have been preparing for the
expected arrival on the Pacific Coast of another round of smuggling boats this
summer.
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