MIAMI, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Nine inmates and 11 marines were injured on Thursday when prisoners at an immigration detention center in the Bahamas set fire to a dormitory and fought with guards, Bahamian radio reported.
The riot erupted after a group of Cuban detainees at the Carmichael Road Detention Center barricaded themselves in a room when immigration officers and Royal Bahamas Defence Force marines tried to move them, ZNS radio reported on its web site.The center, on New Providence island in the 700-island Bahamian chain, is used to house Cuban, Haitian, Jamaican and other Caribbean migrants who land in the Bahamas, usually while attempting to reach the United States by boat.
The detainees set fire to the dormitory and hurled burning objects at the officers, who responded by shooting rubber bullets at the inmates, the radio reported, citing Ministry of Labor and Immigration officials.
Five of the injured detainees were taken to a hospital for treatment, the report said. The dormitory was destroyed by the fire and the Ministry of National Security removed all Cuban migrants from the facility.
The uprising came a day after the Immigration Ministry presented in parliament a report on an investigation into allegations of abuse of Cuban migrants at the center. The report said the allegations were untrue.
Officials said it was not immediately known if there was a link between the report and the uprising, the radio station said.
