Eight asylum seekers remain at large after escaping from Australia's outback Woomera detention centre during a violent protest by refugee supporters.
A total of 41 asylum seekers escaped overnight after about 1,000 protesters stormed the centre and passed bolt cutters and other tools to detainees to help them cut their way through razor wire fences, Mr Ruddock told a news conference in Sydney.
"All but eight (have) been recaptured," Mr Ruddock said today.
Woomera holds 348 asylum seekers who arrived illegally in Australia, mostly by boat from Indonesia. The vast majority are Middle Eastern and Afghans who have spent months or in some cases years in detention. Many were awaiting deportation or appealing failed asylum claims.
An immigration department spokesman said security guards had repaired the external fences at Woomera, an isolated centre about 280 miles northwest of Adelaide, but said the mood at the centre remained "volatile" after the violence overnight.
Protesters continued to arrive at the growing tent city outside the Woomera gates, where pro-refugee supporters have been gathering since Thursday as part of an Easter weekend rally against Australia's mandatory detention of asylum seekers.
Ms Andrea Maksimovic, a spokeswoman for No One is Illegal, one of about 20 groups involved in the rally, said protesters had stormed the centre after realising they outnumbered police but were now worried about the consequences for the escapees.
"We don't know what will happen in terms of reprisals, what kind of violence or punishment they may face," she said.
Ms Maksimovic said she believed protesters were sheltering at least one escapee, an Iranian woman, in their tent city.
Mr Ruddock said detainees who escaped or were involved in the violent break-out had hurt their chance of winning asylum.
"We have no requirements under our law to give protection to people who commit serious criminal offences," Ruddock said.
State police said they arrested 16 protesters for harbouring escapees and 31 asylum seekers for escaping detention. Two had managed to reach the town of Port Augusta, about 110 miles away on the south coast of Australia.