DETAINEES who slashed their wrists at Villawood detention centre in Sydney on the weekend feared persecution after Chinese officials interviewed them in preparation for deportation.

A source inside Villawood claimed the detainees, one of whom needed 19 stitches, feared persecution in China, where details provided by the Australian Government would be used against them. The Government denied handing over details of their applications for refugee status as hundreds rallied in Sydney and Melbourne against mandatory detention.

Dissident Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin, addressing a protest in Sydney, said he was grateful to the Australian people for their support, but attention should now turn to repression by the Chinese Communist Party.

Seven people were taken from Villawood to hospital on Saturday afternoon, with one woman still in Bankstown Hospital last night.

A witness said 14 Chinese detainees, including two women, slashed their wrists with razors and wrote “human rights” in blood on pieces of paper.

A statement signed by 34 Chinese people held in Villawood, released yesterday, said the Immigration Department had provided photographs and details of their passports, visas and marriage certificates to the Chinese Government, breaching the UN Refugee Convention.

Detainee “Jack” Mao said: “It looked very miserable. It was very cold, and people were helping to cover them up with blankets. Some were just crying, it was very miserable. There was lots of blood.” Mr Mao claimed it was only at the insistence of detainees that a guard eventually called an ambulance. He said when detainees heard John Howard had softened detention rules for parents and children, they realised there was nothing in it for them.