[Onthebarricades] AUSTRALIA: Unrest possibly due to crackdown

[Andy]

NOTE:  My guess is that events of this kind - which are hardly routine at least on this scale - must be connected to the crackdown and are probably a kind of diffuse, badly directed revolt against it.  With luck the anger will be turned on the real guilty parties soon.

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Camp residents flee drunken riot
  
Simon Kearney | September 17, 2007 

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22429589-2702,00.html

DRUNKEN, machete-wielding footballers rioted in an Aboriginal camp town on Saturday, beating women, torching cars and looting people's houses on the first day of the new Northern Territory alcohol restrictions.

George Robertson, who lives at Hoppy's Camp on the outskirts of Alice Springs, was forced to flee his home on Saturday night with his wheelchair-bound wife, Monica, as the mob attacked. 

His daughter, Angela, was punched in the face by a man, then kicked in the ribs and stabbed in the shoulder. 

She sat outside their house yesterday with dried blood stuck to her face, nursing her young son Liam. She does not remember being punched but she remembers what came afterwards. 

"He kicked me here," she said, rubbing her ribs. 

There is very little awareness in Hoppy's Camp about the changes to the law, which impose stiffer penalties for drinking in a restricted area. 

Under the new federal legislation, drinkers in restricted areas face a fine of $1100 for a first offence, and a $2200 fine for second and subsequent offences. 

Grog-runners who bring in larger amounts, the equivalent of three 30-pack cases of full-strength beer, face a $74,500 fine or 18 months in prison. 

The camps are, since Saturday, restricted areas but at 5pm yesterday the drinking began again as a taxi arrived, depositing someone from town with a fresh load ofbeer. 

Acting Territory Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Coffey told The Australian officers would begin educating and cautioning people about the new penalties. 

On Saturday, police had been to Hoppy's Camp and tipped out cans of beer. They were called back hours later to deal with the aftermath of the brawl. 

Mr Coffey said police would caution those who broke the alcohol laws the first time, but known grog-runners and repeat offenders would face the new penalties immediately. 

Mr Robertson said he had been watching television when drunken teenagers began pelting his house with rocks. They then attacked an electricity junction box, blacking out the house. "We ran outside when that happened, we had to bring Monica outside in her chair," he said. 

"I was really frightened for her. We were frightened they might light a fire." 

His house escaped but a friend's car in the front yard was torched, as were mattresses and clothing outside the house. The car's owner was in Alice Springs hospital last night with a machete wound to his head. Mr Robertson's son, Elsworth, lost his swag to the mob. 

Maureen Walker had been sitting with her husband, Greg, on a rock, high above the group of five houses that make up Hoppy's Camp when she saw a group of young people drag her television out of the house and smash it. 

When she spoke up, the pair were showered with rocks, one of which hit her on the head. They waited out the rest of the violence as smoke began billowing out of the roof of their house. 

"We saw them, they all had knives in their hands," Mr Walker said. 

Mr Robertson bemoaned the amount of underage drinking. He said children as young as 12 were drunk and part of the mob. "Twelve, 13 and 14 years old ... We've had a lot of problems like this caused by teenagers. There's a problem with footy." 

The fight between footballers from the rival towns of Papunya and Yuendumu had been brewing all week. Territory police had known of the trouble since it threatened to erupt last Sunday in a car park after the country grand final where Yuendumu beat minor premiers Papunya, widely considered favourites. 

Papunya supporters were fuming because a couple of key players had been beaten up in the week before the big game and could not play, something they blamed on Yuendumu. 

Dede Robertson, one of the men who founded the camp towns in Alice Springs, was staying in Mrs Walker's house over the weekend. "It was just over football," he said shaking his head. 

He said men with machetes were wandering around and bottles were flying everywhere. 

"I told the young people, you're only going to get in trouble, but they didn't listen," he said.
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