How a boy on his bike sparked a riot.
 

Thomas Hickey was a 17 year old that lived in "The block" in inner city Redfern,Sydney.

This place is the last refuge of an Aboriginal community wanting to abandon traditional ways in favour of the "White Man" lifestyle they so vehemently oppose.
Government's for years have pilled millions of dollars into various funding programs to try and help,but judging from last night's activities,a new approach is needed.

On Saturday,Thomas was riding his bike through the area when (for reasons only he will ever know) he saw a patroling police car and decided to flee at a great rate as if spooked.
Minutes later he was impaled on a steel fence nearby.
He died later that day.
When news of the tradgedy spread the community,fuelled by alcohol,started to plot revenge for what they saw as "police intimidation".


The new approach in my view is to lock these animals up and send a message to ALL members of the public here.

Who the fuck do these criminal little C....s think they are?

3 million dollars damage to Redfern train station.
Passing motorists the first to pelted with bricks and bottles so as to entrap the police upon their arrival.

They filled wheelie bins full of empty bottles and rocks throughout the day in anticipation of a a full on confrontation with police.

Fifty police were injured with at least 5 serious with broken limbs.

And can you believe this?
Redfern elder Lyle Munro told the crowd gathered at the scene of the riot they should be proud Redfern's young people had stood up to police.

Sorry,but this Aussie has had enough and it's time to call a spade a spade here.

I welcome comments.


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Fifty hurt in inner-Sydney riot
By Scott Jenkins, Paul Colgan and wires
February 15, 2004

A DAY of racial tension spilled over into an evening of violence on the streets of Redfern in inner Sydney last night.


Officers tend to an injured colleague as violence erupts in Redfern overnight.


Eight police officers remain in hospital after a total of 50 were injured trying to subdue a riot near Redfern railway station into the early hours of this morning.

The bridge at the station resembled a military zone as at least 60 officers defended one side of Lawson St, facing about 50 angry local residents.

Armed with bricks, rocks, broken bottles and molotov cocktails, the group threw missiles at police, passing trains, vehicles and businesses.


Four people were in custody this morning, but police said they had identified several others involved in the violence and expected to make more arrests in coming days.

Assistant Commissioner Bob Waites said the violence was sparked by the belief that police had pursued 17-year-old local Thomas Hickey to his death.

"One officer was knocked out by a brick that was thrown through the air and a number of others have got broken limbs, legs," he said.


He also said the rioters appeared to have an endless supply of ammunition.

"They had a number of wheelie bins lined up with paving stones in them - in fact there were eight of those. There were a number of large tubs with beer bottles in them," he said.

The railway station reopened this morning after being shut down last night.

The confrontation escalated at 2am when the angry mob began hurling fireworks and firebombs and spearing burning garbage bins into police lines.

Fire brigade officers attempting to extinguish the fires were pelted with bottles and bricks.

Tragic death

Thomas was impaled on a metal fence on Saturday afternoon in what police said was a tragic but freak accident. But his mother said witnesses saw the teenager being chased by police just before he came off his bicycle and was impaled on the rods of the fence in inner-city Waterloo.

He died in Sydney Children's Hospital early yesterday of chest, neck and internal injuries.

Police held a press conference yesterday to deny officers were pursuing Thomas at the time of the accident but posters began to appear around the suburb, calling them "murderers".

His mother Gail Hickey speaking early today said she planned to go to a lawyer today with a witness claiming to have seen police chasing her son.

The stand-off began shortly after 9pm and for several hours police tried to negotiate with the group, who were shouting "child killers" and "murderers".

Redfern railway station had to be closed to the public after projectiles were thrown at trains. The station was being guarded by riot squad officers last night.

Police officers sent out a "signal one" priority call at 9.04pm after being pelted with bottles, rocks and bricks in Lawson St.

At 9.10pm, police asked RailCorp to prevent trains from stopping at the station because of fears for passenger safety.

At 9.46pm, an ambulance was called to treat five police officers injured by flying projectiles. Two officers were taken to hospital.

At 10pm, fire brigade officers began setting up behind protective police lines while coming under fire from projectiles. At 10.08pm, rioters torched a car.

Late last night, the fire brigade focused a high-beam light into Lawson St to confuse the rioters and hamper their vision.

Extra police were called to control a crowd of observers, some of whom had become unruly.

All duty officers within the metropolitan area were called to the scene to help local officers.

At 12.30pm, riot police charged the group after a barrage of bottles and bricks were thrown.

At 2am when rioters threw fireworks and firebombs into police lines.

With AAP




LINK TO STORY

Sometimes the only self-image a people can muster is that of their historical victimization...

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I can relate to that concept Art but the law of the land should apply equally.
These people should have been arrested on the spot and the state government here needs to forget about "political correctness" and the so called outcry from the indigenous community if the police did in fact carry out their duties.

They now have one more link in the chain around their ankle tying their past to the future.

A case of witnesses (on both sides?) claiming they saw something that justifies their point of view? We tell this same story several times a year here in the States. It usually turns out to be not quite as benign as one side says, nor as malignant as the other one says. The truth usually lies between the two stories.

Do any reports speak about what the young man was doing that attracted the attention of the police? Or are the police claiming that the kid just started fleeing for no due cause? Has there been a history of tension between that particular community and the police... that is ... above and beyond the white vs aborigine animosity.

Many communities are powder kegs waiting for a spark. Detroit in 1967 was ready to burn, and used a few arrests at an after-hours club as an excuse. Just about every major city (and a lot of small ones) in the United States could tell just about the same story.

You stated it yourself: a new approach is needed. But answering violence with violence won't solve anything. Are you going to lock up an entire town?

Anger is a legitimate reaction, but it's going to require cool heads on both sides to get past this incident and address the underlying problems of the racial divisiveness.

Thanks, grumpyolddude, for the voice of reason.

First, I think referring to the community as "animals" is irresponsible use of language (given the history of white philosophy about indigenous peoples) and displays a lack of understanding of the motivations in the situation.

The "victim" card has two sides. When the police and the white community fails to acknowledge the perceptions of the aboriginal community, and fails to take responsibility for their own actions in light of those perceptions, the past perception is reinforced. Is violence a justifiable response? No. Neither is pretending that racial tensions don't exist and carrying on as usual. One side has to blink first to make progress, and it usually has to be the side with the most power.

Yes they do and as documented he was doing nothing and did not attract anyone's attention.
He just bolted and minutes later he collided into a fence.
The history is such that he had a warrant out but the police paid him no mind and continued on their way.
The officers in question no doubt had to go back and deal with the tradgedy on the spot after the event.

Picture that scene.


As for the violence on behalf of the police there simply wasn't any.

In the past the NSW police force has been criticized for dealing with such situations with force but had (at the demand of the NSW government) to undergo a massive re-training on the whole approach to the dealing and handling of riotous events involving indigenous peoples.

The end result here is a no brainer.
Riotous behaviour this time was never going to be challenged and the people that spent the whole afternoon filling up wheelie bins full of weapons knew this very well.





lurkette,

The individuals that I refer to as animals are the ones that pelted unsuspecting motorists with rocks and bottles as they made their way through the suburb.
Individuals that plotted and planned for a confrontation with the police knowing full well the new restrictions put into place that prevent officers from using force.

Individuals that do not belong in this community.

I understand totally what the issue is and as someone that can relate and bring forth some passion on a global scale here,I also acknowledge my lack of foresight for jumping on a high horse and engage my anger in a way that is not constructive in the first instance.
I am so close to this on a personal scale and that,in effect,is why I have related the story here.

But there is simply no excuse for individuals anywhere to behave like this.

The police "blinked" this time and were taken advantage of.

All political and historical notes aside, I beleive that anyone who takes violence as a course of action should feel the full force of the law. Nothing in anyone's history allows them to say with a clear understanding of thier actions "the police deserve to get hurt or killed because I'm angry"

Lock them up. Not because of who they are, but because of what they just did.

Rumor has it the child on the bike was not fleeing the police, but actually chasing a man who owed him two dollars...

If you're referring to what i think you're referring to...Heehee

"I wonder what the street value of this mountain is?"

Mass hysteria is a powerful and destructive force. It can be weilded, but not without considerable risk. If you think about it, SOMEONE had to start this riot. A bunch of people didn't just stand up and say together, "We're mad, let's riot."

Shame on that person.

Violent riots...they're not just for LA anymore *(or Newark, Birmingham or Chicago)

Re: How a boy on his bike sparked a riot.
 

They showed that on the New Zealand news last night, it looked very brutal, looked like the brick hit him in the chin/thoat area. Poor guy.

This is kind of a scary thought, but I think we are primed for riots everywhere. People are just waiting for a spark big enough to start it. For example, in my college town we lost a big game; downtown everyone decided to riot. It's just a stupid thing, but people have a lot of anger and hopelessness that they want to get out. Add alcohol and a spark and you get fire :)

Have had many riots in Vancouver, one after the Canucks lost to the Rangers in the Stanley Cup finals in 94, one after a Guns n Roses concert was cancelled, one during an APEC summit, and one on Chrietien's first visit back to Vancouver after the APEC riot that I can think of offhand, and in the Guns n Roses and APEC ones the police totally escalated the situation. So I can see both sides of the issue, since the aborigines probably feel that justice would not be served no matter if the cops had done wrong, and so they are left with little way to voice their opinions, while the police are just doing their job protecting the public, but some probably want to protect their fellow officers regardless of what really happened, and others just want to abuse their power to attack people using the riot as an excuse.