Redfern Racial Rioting (1 Viewer)

routemarker

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Racial tension spills into rioting

PARTS of an inner-Sydney suburb were closed down last night after a day of unrest which saw angry residents blame police for the death of a teenager.

Bricks, rocks and bottles were thrown at police vehicles, pizza delivery drivers and The Daily Telegraph's car during a visit last night. Lawson St was closed to traffic around 9pm as police moved in to quell the disturbances.

Mock "wanted" posters, pinned up all over Redfern, accuse police of being "child killers", and warn they should not be approached because they are armed.

The posters feature pictures of two high-profile senior officers and an unidentified junior officer.

Seventeen-year-old Thomas "TJ" Hickey, of Waterloo, was flung off his bicycle and impaled on a fence late on Saturday in what residents say was a police pursuit.

He died in Sydney's Children's Hospital yesterday morning after receiving chest, neck and internal injuries.

The boy's mother, Gail, disputes the police version of the events.

"They (the police) did chase him at that time. I've got a witness to all that. He saw everything that happened," she told ABC Online.

"He told me he saw my son riding the bike really fast. Next minute he saw cop cars coming, chasing my son to the building there, where it happened."

The posters were created after resident "frustration" at their attempts to have what they see as the truth come out.

Redfern Police held a press conference yesterday and denied there was a pursuit of Hickey, and have asked for witnesses to the incident to come forward.

Inspector Bob Emery said at the time of the accident police were patrolling several blocks from where Hickey was riding his bike.

"They were some distance (away). They were in the area patrolling in line with community expectations, I think," he said.

Minutes before, police and Hickey had crossed paths but they did not pursue him because he was not a person of interest.

Asked whether Hickey may have been fleeing because he saw the police, Insp Emery said it was impossible to know what the youth had been thinking.

During the press conference, a police media spokeswoman prompted Insp Emery not to answer questions about reports that a warrant was out for Hickey's arrest.

"That's not an issue," Insp Emery said. "He wasn't being sought by the police, he wasn't a person of interest to them, no, and I can't go any further into it. That's really beside the point now
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8695759%5E2,00.html
Teenager's death triggers fiery Aboriginal rampage

Fury and tragedy...Redfern station burns during the height of the confrontation between local Aboriginal people and police following the death of Thomas Hickey, right. Main photo: Edwina Pickles

Redfern railway station was set ablaze, windows were smashed and at least one police officer was taken to hospital as Aborigines went on a rampage last night in a furious response to the death of a teenage boy.

Trains were ordered not to stop at the station from about 9.30 as Aborigines began gathering and fire crews and police reinforcements were called in.

Up to 60 police officers in riot gear, seven fire engines, 15 police cars and two ambulances converged on the Lawson Street block from Regent Street to Abercrombie Street.

The death of 17-year-old Thomas Hickey on Saturday was the trigger that reignited simmering Aboriginal anger over policing in the area.

Thomas, TJ to those who knew him, died in hospital early yesterday morning from neck and chest injuries after being impaled on a fence while cycling home on Phillip Street. His family claims he was being chased by police when the accident happened, a charge the police reject.

As police moved in last night the rioters torched the entrance of the station using a liquid accelerant splashed from a bottle. Sticks wrapped with burning material were used to set alight furniture in the street.

Flames billowed from the station entrance as police in riot gear advanced three-deep towards a man at the top of Eveleigh Street. At least one police officer was carried to an ambulance.

Bottles were hurled at the station wall, leaving a thick carpet of broken glass along the footpath. Rioters stole a baton from a police car and used it to smash all the windows on the Lawson Street side of the station as well as several police windscreens.

Locals described the riot as the biggest they had seen in years. Alastair Cameron, an events manager of Little Eveleigh Street, said the rioters had been throwing bottles and bricks at the station and onto its roof from about 7pm. At one stage they had set fire to plastic street barriers and a car driven into the barriers was left to burn.

Late last night one person had been arrested and all available police from the inner metropolitan commands were sent to Redfern. About 11.30 a line of police officers in riot gear faced about 50 Aborigines.

Thomas's aunt, Virginia, said: "If you're black and see a police car, you just run." She believes police were chasing him as he rode back to her home, where he lived, about 11.15am on Saturday after visiting his mother.

Thomas's mother, Gail, said witnesses had told her that police were chasing him before the accident, and that officers had pulled him off the fence and searched his pockets before he was taken to Prince of Wales Hospital.

A warrant is believed to have been issued for the teenager's arrest. However, Inspector Bob Emery insists that at the time Thomas was not "a person of interest" to police, who were "blocks away" when he lost control of the bicycle.

Inspector Emery said a member of the public had flagged down passing police and told them where they were needed.

A spokesman for the mourning family, Lyall Munro, said "as far as we're concerned, it's an Aboriginal death in custody", because the family said Thomas had died while being chased by police.

Inspector Emery appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

Earlier yesterday flyers were handed out with a picture of police and reading: "Wanted: child murderers. There is a gang of child killers operating in the Redfern area. They can be easily identified as they all dress the same."
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/15/1076779843405.html
 

ND

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Whether the police were chasing him or not is not an issue. If he wants to run away, and be so retarded that he impales himself on a fence, it's not their fault.
 

ND

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I'm sorry, but if he's 17 and (possibly) had a warrant for arrest, it's no loss to society.
 

um..

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Originally posted by ND
I'm sorry, but if he's 17 and (possibly) had a warrant for arrest, it's no loss to society.
that is very, very harsh. how can you show such little respect
 

ND

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Because these are the types of people that will be living off our taxes... (obviously i don't know his individual situation, but i'm sure that the laws of probability aren't in his favour)

edit: i'm talking about the probability that, if he is indeed a criminal, he will do something decent with his life.
 

um..

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"these people"? im assuming you mean aboriginals? sweeping racial generalisations never helped anybody mate

hell, lets get rid of disabled people as well. using your logic they're not helping society and all they do is sponge off our taxes, what good are they to us?

how dare you have the hide to dismiss the death of somebody you didnt even no as no loss to society
 

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if the police werent chasing him, and he thought they were, he obviously had a guilty conscience about something

besides, police are now treating this whole thing 'delicately', why the hell should they, if it were any where else they wouldnt, simply coz the area is predominately aboriginal or whatever, they have to tread carefully, if it was any where else with 'white' people, they would be in there kicking everyones butts over the riots

...talk about political correctness gone mad
 
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ND

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No, i don't mean aboriginals, i mean criminals (especially young ones). This is nothing like disabled people, they do not commit crimes. Their impairment is (often) brought about by misfortune. How can you compare disabled people to criminals?

My arguments (and attitudes) only stand if the boy is indeed a criminal, which hasn't been confirmed yet. (but why else would you run from the police?)
 

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just when i thought the police were actually doing something to help to build a relationship with the community in redfern, an incident like this happened...


/me sighs
 

ND

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Originally posted by hipsta_jess
if the police werent chasing him, and he thought they were, he obviously had a guilty conscience about something

besides, police are now treating this whole thing 'delicately', why the hell should they, if it were any where else they wouldnt, simply coz the area is predominately aboriginal or whatever, they have to tread carefully, if it was any where else with 'white' people, they would be in there kicking everyones butts over the riots
Damn right. How exactly did it take the police 11 hours to stop a group of kids. Where were the rubber bullets and smoke grenades?
 

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Brogden: Bulldoze the block!

Need I say more? :p
 
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Snapwizard

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The police was useless, just standing there and only arresting 5 people while our tax monry goes to pay fot the 3 million damage, hahahaha isnt life a bitch, wheres the tear gasses and rubber bullets? Why is there so much anger for Aborginal towards the police in genreal?
 

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Originally posted by Asquithian
if brogs was in powere that would happen
If I were in power that would happen!
Ahh the prodigy of the Young Libs - fantastic!

Nah, more seriously, what happened is a tragedy, we shouldn't have things like that happen in our supposedly "egalitarian" society that proports to give equal opportunity to all. It's clear that these people are extremely disadvantaged both financially and in terms of their education. If they had the education the likelyhood of this happening effectively becomes almost zero. The question is do these people really want to help themselves or not and if not how do you go about changing the culture?
Adding more police to the beat isn't going to solve a thing, and if the Aboriginals who resent the Police already see more police on the beat this is going to be the obvious outcome. Since 1996 this sort of thing has been happening pretty much non-stop, the only real way to deal with it is to rehabilitate these people into society rather than trying - ineffectively - to punish them (retribution style).

Throwing money at the problem is never the solution, essentially that's all our welfare system does and that's where the biggest part of the problem lies.
 

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Meanwhile the flip-side and more immediately is that:
a) The kid already had a warrant out for his arrest
b) If the cops were chasing him, it's his own fault for RESISTING ARREST - which conveniently happens to be yet another criminal offence this person was committing...
c) It's his own stupidity that caused it, I can't see how anyone could get impaled on a bloody fence but however he managed to do it - it's just plain stupid.
 

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Originally posted by Ziff
c) It's his own stupidity that caused it, I can't see how anyone could get impaled on a bloody fence but however he managed to do it - it's just plain stupid.
Especially a fence that apparently has rounded poles (top of poles rounded i mean). This kid's got skillz!
 

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hahaha brogden's a funny cunt
he sounds like israel, bulldozers and all

anyway back to this kid
he has funny relatives
-> Thomas's aunt, Virginia, said: "If you're black and see a police car, you just run."
 

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Hell even the Victorian police!
They're notorious for their shoot-first question-later style antics :D
 

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