The Latest: Injunction filed to keep Australian centre open

SYDNEY, Australia – The Latest on an Australian detention centre on a Papua New Guinea island (all times local):

2 p.m.

Lawyers have filed an application to the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court to keep an Australian detention centre open with basic services provided so the 606 asylum seekers living there can stay.

Papua New Guinea authorities plan to cut the water, electricity and food supplies to the centre inside the Lombrun Navy Base at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Its closing date was decided after the court ruled last year that Australia’s detention of asylum seekers there was unconstitutional.

The men who want to stay there say the alternatives are less secure and they fear for their safety after threats of violence from disgruntled locals.

Lawyers for the Sydney-based Refugee Action Coalition applied to the Supreme Court for an injunction to prevent the facility’s closure and restore the supply of food, water and electricity, warning of a “catastrophic outcome” if the detainees were evicted.