Novak Djokovic’s fans are fighting to get him out of his hotel. Inside, refugees

Tennis Australia was advised in a letter as far back as November 2021 that unvaccinated players with a recent Covid-19 infection would not be allowed to enter the country based on public health guidelines, Morrison told reporters Thursday.

Djokovic’s legal team won an urgent injunction against the decision, but it remains unclear whether the defending Australian Open men’s singles champion will be able to compete in the tournament, which starts January 17.

But Djokovic’s situation has also highlighted the plight of asylum seekers in Australia. While the tennis star will ultimately either be allowed to play in the tournament or forced to leave the country, other detainees in the same facility have been locked up for years — and face indefinite detention under Australia’s tough immigration rules.

Widespread outrage

As dozens of protesters from disparate groups of the political spectrum gathered outside the Park Hotel on Friday, there was one thing that united them: the push for freedom.

Some were from Serbian cultural groups, singing and waving the Balkan country’s flag, who saw Djokovic’s detention as a great injustice against one of the world’s biggest sports stars.

“I don’t see why he should be stuck in a detention center,” said Tara, a 17-year-old Australian-Serb and junior tennis player, who did not give a last name. “Everyone has their own freedom of choice, vaccinated or not.”

Djokovic, who is tied with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on a record 20 men’s grand slam singles titles, has not publicly revealed his vaccination status but voiced opposition to Covid-19 vaccines and vaccine mandates in April 2020.

Others used Djokovic’s plight as an opportunity to criticize how vaccine mandates had curtailed civil liberties.

One woman — who gave her name only as Matty for privacy reasons — said if Djokovic went home, she wouldn’t watch the Australian Open.

“I used to go every year — I can’t this year because of the vaccine mandates,” said Matty, who added she is unvaccinated.

Another masked person, who declined to speak to CNN, held a sign declaring Djokovic a “hostage of the communist state.”

But others focused their attention on the approximately 30 refugees held in the hotel.

Previously used by the Australian government as a Covid-19 quarantine facility, the hotel has been an Alternative Place of Detention (APOD) for refugees and asylum seekers for at least a year.

Nearly a decade ago, Australia said no asylum seekers who arrived by boat would ever be settled in the country. Hundreds were housed at offshore processing centers for years, although some were sent to hotels in Australia to be treated for health conditions.

The refugees still have little hope of freedom, and the conditions they are held in is hugely controversial. Standing in front of the Park Hotel, which is tagged with the words “free them,” Tom Hardman, a 27-year-old teacher, said he had come out in support of the refugees.

“I’m here because the loneliness and the heartache these men suffer from not knowing when they will be released is unbearable to witness,” he said.

Oscar Sterner, 25, said he was opposed to both anti-vaxxers and the way refugees were kept in detention — and said the real problem was putting an unvaccinated visitor in a hotel with refugees who required medical attention.

“Djokovic is a millionaire scumbag who has rightly incurred the anger of a lot of people in Australia,” he said. “He can’t be bothered to get vaccinated to protect the people around him.”

What it’s like inside

“It’s so dirty and the food is so terrible,” Dijana Djokovic told reporters Thursday at a news conference in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade. “It’s just not fair. It’s not human.”

American tennis star John Isner also tweeted in support of Djokovic, saying keeping him in the hotel was “not right.”

“There’s no justification for the treatment he’s receiving. He followed the rules, was allowed to enter Australia, and now he’s being detained against his own will. This is such a…