SYDNEY: An angry crowd clashed with Australian police outside a hospital treating the suspected killer of a five-year-old Indigenous girl in the outback town of Alice Springs.
Images on local media Friday showed teargas in the air, a police van in flames, and crowds yelling at armed officers keeping people at bay during the overnight confrontation.
The violence followed the discovery Thursday of a body south of Alice Springs believed to be that of the little girl, referred to at her family’s request as Kumanjayi Little Baby.
She had disappeared from an Indigenous community camp called Old Timers late on Saturday night, sparking a vast, days-long search on foot, horseback, and by helicopter that gripped much of the country.
Police said a formal autopsy would be held on the child’s body, which was found about five kilometres (three miles) from the camp.
Hours after her body was found, police announced they had arrested the suspect, Jefferson Lewis.
‘He was unconscious’
Lewis was beaten until he was unconscious after turning himself in to Indigenous community members on Thursday evening at a camp by Alice Springs, in central Australia.
When police and emergency services intervened, they too came under attack, said Northern Territory Police Force Commissioner Martin Dole.
“At the time of his apprehension by us, he was unconscious and he was in the process of being treated by St John’s Ambulance when they were set upon, as were the police,” he told a news conference.
Lewis was then taken to hospital.
“A large crowd gathered and tried to gain access to that hospital,” the police commissioner said.
“We called out all the resources we had available to quell that violent disturbance. And just let me say that the behaviour that we saw last night cannot be explained away, excused or accepted.”
Dole said “a number” of police were injured at the hospital, and one officer was treated for a head wound inflicted during the suspect´s arrest.
Ambulance and fire crew members were also attacked, he said, with one fire and rescue officer receiving a “significant facial injury”.
‘Sorry business’
One woman was being investigated for allegedly trying to set a police car alight.
Many people outside the hospital shouted that Lewis must face “payback”, public broadcaster ABC reported, referring to a traditional punishment in central Australian Indigenous communities.
“I just call for calm across the community,” Dole said.
Police said they removed Lewis for his safety from the hospital to the Northern Territory capital of Darwin, where he was being held in custody.
He is expected to face charges in the coming days.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the girl’s death was the realisation of “our worst nightmares”.
But it was no excuse for violence, she said, recalling how the community had united to search for the missing child.
“This week, we’ve seen this town come together like never before — hundreds of people walking shoulder to shoulder through the long buffel grass, through the bush, to make sure we left no stone unturned,” Finocchiaro said.
“I don’t want last night to take away from that extraordinary effort.”
Robin Granites, a spokesman for the family and an elder of the Warlpiri Indigenous group, called for calm in the community.
“It is time now for sorry business, to show respect for our family and have space for grieving and remembering,” he said in a statement.
“We need to be strong for each other, we must respect family and cultural practice.”
