ABOUT 300 PRISONERS at an Australian prison rioted after authorities attempted to bring in a smoking ban.
Police were forced to storm Melbourne’s Metropolitan Remand Centre and fire tear gas as prisoners resisted the state-wide ban which came into force yesterday.
It’s estimated that 80% of the state’s inmates are smokers and they have been unable to buy cigarettes for the last three weeks.
The state insists that they’ve introduced quit programmes and nicotine patches but some inmates had threatened to go on hunger strike over the smoking ban.
Prisoners used sticks to break windows and set fires across the campus before tactical police stormed the prison.
Staff were evacuated during the riot which went on throughout the day.
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