UPDATE: In Sydney, eight prayer protestors were arrested in Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s office for “breaching the peace” but later released without charge.

Church leaders are among two groups of Christians holding simultaneous sit-in prayer vigils at the Sydney office of Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the Melbourne office of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.

The action is a response to Australia’s cruel treatment of asylum seekers and an appeal to the two major parties to end the bipartisan tragedy of offshore detention, especially of children. The sit-in vigils included invitations to the staff in both offices to join the groups in prayer for asylum seekers and also for both political leaders.

Among the sit-in participants are two Catholic priests, a nun, two Baptist pastors, an Anglican Priest, five Uniting Church ministers, and a number of lay church leaders. They are refusing to leave the offices until both major parties commit to releasing children from detention.

According to the sit-in organisers, this is the first time that leaders of major Christian churches have chosen to take part in civil disobedience. The Moderator of the Uniting Church in NSW and ACT, Rev Dr Brian Brown is currently praying in Mr Abbott’s office, while former President of the National Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia, Rev Dr Alistair Macrae is in the office of Mr Shorten.

“Churches have exhausted all formal channels of policy debate on the issue of asylum seekers, that’s why we are risking arrest today. There comes a time when such grave injustice must be confronted directly through peaceful acts of civil disobedience, we believe that to be silent is to be complicit in the injustices being perpetrated against asylum seekers,” said Rev Dr Brian Brown.

Police are on site at both prayer sit-in locations, but protestors are refusing to move, calling for political leaders to work together to release children from detention.

You can read more reactions to the prayer sit-in from our Storify report, pulling together comments made on Twitter this morning, as news broke of the new prayer-sit ins.