Riots that erupted in the outback town of Alice Springs on Tuesday were caused by a violent mob of up to 150 Indigenous adults intent on “payback”.
Attacks on a pub and cars in the town’s central business district, first reported by The Noticer, happened after a ceremony for a man, 18, killed when a stolen ute he was in overturned on March 8, local sources told The Australian.
About 150 armed Indigenous adults gathered at the Hidden Valley Town Camp before crossing the Todd River and attacking the Todd Tavern with crowbars and rocks, leaving doors and windows smashed.
“Payback” is Indigenous slang for violent vendetta-style retribution in order to settle a grievance.
The lawless mob descended on the pub while hunting for the alleged driver of the stolen ute, and then went on a rampage through the town, destroying property in an eruption of violence that Mayor Matt Paterson said was the worst he’d ever seen.
“It was hundreds of people gathered, going through the CBD starting at one end and working their way through,” he told Sky News.
“There’s terrible vision of 200 people walking across the bridge yesterday with weapons, coming into the CBD. It was very frightening and I’ve got absolutely no more descriptive words to describe what we’re living in any more.”
Mr Paterson said the police were outnumbered and confirmed he’d asked the Federal Government to step in, and requested bringing in the army and the AFP.
“We have shown that we are not mature enough to lead ourselves as a jurisdiction … There’s nothing else for us to do here. We just want to be safe,” he said.
Hours later the Northern Territory Labor government imposed a 14-day youth curfew requiring anyone under 18 to be off the streets between 6am and 6pm, and promised 58 additional police officers.
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency was unhappy with the youth curfew, describing it as a “short-sighted policy that risks inflaming issues”.
Footage shared by Action for Alice 2020 shows Indigenous rioters throwing bricks and chunks of concrete at the tavern windows and doors, and cars with smashed windows can be seen in photos of the aftermath.
One video shows filmed from inside a nearby car was titled: “Onslaught of Todd Tavern. We need more than police. Our poor police can’t do this alone. Enough now.”
Several frustrated residents said “bring in the army”, while others lashed out at the Northern Territory government for failing to stop rampant crime in Alice Springs and surrounds.
“First Nations finest. To think the government wanted to give them a say in what we can do,” said another.
“Welcome to country,” added several more.
Others said it was a shame the town was so ravaged by crime, pointing out that it wasn’t always so unsafe.
“I can’t believe this! What’s happening to Alice? When I was there in 2006 just a lovely town,” said one distressed man.
“It’s difficult to believe this is Australia. This reminds me of recent footage from Haiti, which is an actual war zone at the moment,” another person wrote in response to one of the videos.
Crime rates have skyrocketed in the Northern Territory in recent years, with youth crime rates up 50% since 2020.
Earlier this month Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged $4 billion to build 2700 homes for Aboriginals in the region – at a cost of almost $1.5 million per home.
