Violent riots have erupted in the troubled central Australian town of Alice Springs, leaving a pub in the centre business district smashed up and cars with broken windows and windscreens.
Shocking videos from the scene show a large crowd of Indigenous rioters attacking the Todd Tavern in the city’s CBD on Tuesday.
Locals said the mob was made up of up to 80 Aboriginal adults, some armed with crowbars, others with bricks and rocks, and said they were then chased down to the Todd River by police in the afternoon.
But later that evening there was a fresh warning that the violent group was returning to the city centre.
“Heads up, 80 people walking from hidden valley camp making their way into town! Armed with weapons,” a post on local Facebook group Action for Alice 2020 said.
Footage shared by the page shows 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.
“Beware CBD,” the group warned on Tuesday afternoon.
“60 – 70 adults run through Todd Mall with crowbars etc. Doors ripped off Todd Tavern. Police have chased them into river”.
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.
