Afghanistan asylum seekers on Wednesday continue a protest at the Curtin Detention Center in Western Australia, with some staying on hunger strike and hundreds not turning up at official meal times. The move came after Immigration Minister Chris Bowen on Monday announced the federal government has signed a landmark deal with Afghanistan, which would see those Afghans whose asylum claims have failed be sent home. The prospect of large numbers of Afghans returning home is a shock to detainees, who are aware that last year Australia succeeded in sending home just three Afghan asylum-seekers. According to The Australian newspaper, a lone detainee at Curtin began the protest on Monday morning by sitting in a roadway in the compound and later cutting himself with a razor. By Monday night about 50 detainees had joined him and the protest group had grown to about 150. On Tuesday morning, almost all of the camp's 1,100 detainees skipped breakfast. "There are more than 1,000 uneaten meals here," a detention center worker told The Australian newspaper. Refugee advocates on Wednesday said its not clear how many of the Center's detainees are still on a hunger strike or protesting in an outside area of the complex, but it's believed to be several hundred. However, the Immigration Department denied the claims, saying that the center remains calm and only a small group is on hunger strike. "A small number of detainees, about 20 to 30, have told the department they are engaging in voluntary starvation," a spokesman told the Australia Associated Press on Wednesday, adding that more than 400 detainees attended the evening meal on Tuesday. The spokesman also said the low turn-out at the evening meal did not mean many hundreds were on hunger strike, as other available food had been taken.