A police vehicle burns as community members clash with authorities outside Alice Springs Hospital in Alice Springs, Australia, on Thursday. Photo by Rhett Hammerton/EPA
May 1 (UPI) — Authorities in central Australia called for calm Friday after police and rioters clashed overnight in remote Alice Springs following the arrest of a man accused of killing a 5-year-old Aboriginal girl.
Several police officers, firefighters and emergency services workers were injured in the unrest, prompting officials to use non-lethal and chemical munitions to disperse the crowd, authorities said. At least one police vehicle was destroyed, three or four sustained significant damage, at least three of the region’s five ambulances were knocked out of commission and several fire rescue vehicles needed repairs.
A female was arrested for trying to set fire to a police vehicle, but Northern Territory Police Force Commissioner Martin Dole told reporters at a press conference on Friday that he expected more people who were involved to be detained throughout the day.
“Just let me say that the behavior that we saw last night cannot be explained away, excused or accepted,” he said. “There is absolutely no excuse for violence against emergency services that are just doing their job.”
The riot comes as community members and authorities in Alice Springs had been searching for Jefferson Lewis, 47, since early Sunday after Kumanjai Little Baby was reported missing and he was identified as a suspect.
On Wednesday, police said a crime scene had been established a short distance from the home where Kumanjai Little Baby was abducted and where a pair of children’s underwear was found with two DNA profiles, one belonging to Lewis and the other believed to be that of the missing girl.
Amid the search, police on Thursday said they had found a body they believed belonged to Kumanjai Little Baby. On Thursday night, the Northern Territory Police Force announced in a statement that Lewis had been arrested.
In the press conference Friday, Dole said Lewis had shown up in one of Alice Springs’ town camps and was beaten.
Dole said members of the town camp were dispensing “vigilante justice” and police were called to the scene.
Officers and emergency service personnel who responded then also came under attack as they took Lewis into custody, he said.
After transporting the suspect to Alice Springs Hospital for treatment, a “large crowd” attempted to gain access to the facility and Lewis, clashing with police, resulting in several officers, firefighters and emergency services workers being injured.
Lewis’ arresting officer sustained a head wound requiring stitches, a firefighter received “a significant facial injury” and several ambulance officials sustained soft tissue injuries, Dole said.
Though subjected to a “sustained attack,” Lewis has since been released from hospital into police custody, he said, adding the suspect was no longer in Alice Springs.
“He was removed last night for safety concerns — safety concerns for himself and emergency services workers,” he said.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro, who has been applauding Alice Springs for coming together in the search for Kumanjai Little Baby this week, said she hopes the violence seen overnight “does not define what has been an incredible community effort.”
“We’ve seen this town come together like never before. Hundreds of people walking shoulder-to-shoulder through the long buffalo grass through the bush to make sure we left no stone unturned. And I don’t want last night to take away from that extraordinary effort that we have seen,” she said.
