Photo: The riot began as a peaceful protest at the Nauru detention centre (AAP Image: Department of Immigration)
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Nauru police have interviewed the ringleaders of a detention centre riot that caused $60 million in damage and left four people in hospital.
Order has been restored at the detention centre after a peaceful protest quickly escalated into a riot on Friday.
A security guard who does not want to be named says asylum seekers took over the centre, gained access to a kitchen and armed themselves with knives and steel bars.
An Immigration Department spokeswoman says detainees burned buildings to the ground, including the accommodation blocks, which can house 600 people.
The health centre and the dining room were also destroyed.
The government in Nauru says 80 per cent of the island detention centre's buildings were destroyed in the riot.
There are 545 male detainees at Nauru, and 129 have been identified as involved in the riot. They are being held at the Police watch house.
The ringleaders are expected to be charged with affray and property damage.
Rioters could be heavily penalised
Immigration Minister Tony Burke says those responsible will be subject to the criminal laws of Nauru and could face severe penalties.
He has hinted that he could cancel or refuse a visa for those involved in the riots on the grounds of character.
"And now I can't prejudge that test before individual applications come to me, if I do it simply creates a legal problem with the possible overturning of my decision," he said.
"But I don't think it would take much guessing for people to work out how incidences like what we've seen overnight in Nauru reflect on character."
Four people were taken to hospital with minor injuries after the riot, while others are being treated for cuts and bruises.
The Immigration Department says no staff were hurt.
It says the riot was not a reaction to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's announcement that Australia will no longer accept asylum seekers who arrive by boats.
Tension is building, refugee advocate says
The Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul says the protest is over the slow processing of claims and had been in the planning for the past few days.
"The tension has built significantly, I don't think there should be any surprise about this," he said.
"The recent arrivals, pushed into circumstances where it's become even more crowded, all the added uncertainty about their delays, every now and then it reaches breaking point.
"There was a plan to actually leave the detention centre and march to the airport, and stage a protest at the airport for an hour and then come back to the detention centre.
"But it seems there's been significant resistance by the guards and people haven't managed to get out of the detention centre and we've got now a major protest inside the detention centre itself."
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says the incident is a result of Government mismanagement.
"More chaos is no surprise when it comes to this Government on these issues, because they just don't know how to implement things effectively," he said.
"They are going to have major problems realising what was another big announcement from Labor."
