Aborigines armed with spears riot in Australia
Pastor Dale Morgan
Aborigines armed with spears riot in Australia*
By Michael Perry
Reuters
Monday, December 3, 2007; 9:20 PM
SYDNEY (Reuters) - About 200 people armed with spears, knives and
sticks, rioted in an Australian outback aboriginal town after an
argument in a tavern, police said on Tuesday.
The argument, possibly between feuding families, started in the tavern
at Aurukun, an isolated aboriginal community in northern Queensland
state, on Monday.
"The argument started in the tavern and moved onto the street where
about 200 people, some armed with spears, sticks and knives, started
fighting," a police spokesman told Reuters.
"One man suffered serious head injuries when he was attacked by three
people," he said.
A police tactical response squad was flown to Aurukun overnight to help
stop the fighting.
"We do not yet know what started it. It could be something to do with
feuding families," said the police spokesman.
"We may transport people out of there in a view to talking to them, but
if there was alcohol involved we will have to wait until they sober up."
Aurukun has been hit by a number of alcohol-fuelled riots in recent years.
Australia's 460,000 Aborigines make up 2 percent of the 20 million
population and have a life expectancy 17 years less than white
Australians. They have far higher rates of unemployment, imprisonment,
alcohol and drug abuse and domestic violence.
A report this year found a "river of grog" or alcohol was destroying
black communities in the Northern Territory and fuelling violence
against women and children.
The government sent police and troops to stop the violence and banned
alcohol in the aboriginal camps.