Aborigines mob police HQ
2004-02-20 14:10
Sydney - An angry mob of Aboriginal activists besieged the Australian Federal Police headquarters in Canberra on Friday to show solidarity with their kinsmen in Sydney who rioted last weekend to protest what they believed was police involvement in the death of a black teenager.
They lit a fire in front of the building in defiance of orders from the police.
Spokesperson Darren Bloomberg said a demonstration at Parliament House was being organised to protest against the death of 17-year-old Thomas Hickey.
"We are calling on Australians to be in Canberra on March 1 to go to the top of the hill and let these politicians know that their enforcements are murdering out in the community," he told Australia's AAP news agency.
Hickey died when he came off his bicycle and impaled himself on a steel fence post. Relatives alleged a police patrol car was chasing him at the time.
The incident led to a night of mayhem, with 50 police officers injured when drunken youths pelted them with stones and petrol bombs. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA