Alice Springs imposes youth curfew after violent attacks
Australia’s Outback capital, Alice Springs, will introduce a two-week curfew for teenagers on March 27 as authorities in the troubled community grappled with a surge in unrest.
The town of 25,000 people, which sits in the middle of Australia, has long struggled with crime and social difficulties, fanned in part by tensions between the Aboriginal and white communities, as well as problems with alcohol consumption.
It has been particularly on edge since March 8 after a teenager died when an allegedly stolen car crashed. A funeral was held on March 26, with violence flaring afterwards that the authorities pinned on family disputes.
Rocks and bricks
Michael Murphy, the Northern Territory police commissioner, said: “Young people involved in that ceremony took it upon themselves to go to the Todd Tavern, where some other family members were that they didn’t share a harmonious relationship with, and then started attacking the premises with rocks and bricks.”
Police said up to 150 people were involved in the pub attack, a separate brawl and other incidents.
The new curfew will apply to anyone under 18 in the city centre from 6pm to 6am for two weeks.
Eva Lawler, the Northern Territory chief minister, said anyone who violated the order would be “taken home or taken to a safe place”.
The government will also deploy 58 additional police officers to Alice Springs to enforce the curfew, she said.
‘Horrific and unacceptable’
“The scenes yesterday in Alice Springs were horrific, unacceptable and we never want to see anything like that again in the Northern Territory,” she added.
“I’m fed up with this level of crime and anti-social behaviour. The community has had enough and so have I.”
The incident is the latest unrest to hit Alice Springs, which has become something of a political football in Canberra over the years, serving as a litmus test for rival politicians’ toughness on crime.
Matt Paterson, the mayor of Alice Springs, told AFP that violence and unrest in the community had been getting “worse and worse for many years”.
“But Tuesday was the worst I have ever seen in Alice Springs. It was the tipping point.”
He added that the curfew was a good start and authorities would see how it played out over the next 14 days.
“This is something that has not been done before, so we are trying new things to address” the violence, he said. “Hopefully we can go back to some normality.”
