Anger erupts in Redfern

Thomas Hickey, a 17-year-old Aboriginal youth, died last 
Sunday morning in the Prince of Wales Children's Hospital after 
he was flung off his bicycle and impaled on a metal fence on 
Saturday in the inner Sydney suburb of Waterloo. Thomas's mother 
claimed that there were witnesses who had seen the police 
pursuing him, and that they searched him before he was taken to 
the hospital. After Thomas's death the Aboriginal community in 
the nearby suburb of Redfern erupted in anger and 
frustration.

Family spokesperson, Lyall Munro, said the community is regarding 
the event as a "death in custody" case. The police have denied 
any involvement.

On Sunday evening riot police arrived and they and some of the 
locals had a running battle for several hours. Streets were 
barricaded and trains were ordered not to stop at Redfern. A car 
and the railway station were set alight and the police were 
pelted with rocks and bottles.

Tensions in the suburb between police and Aboriginal residents 
are long-term and always simmering, with police harassment 
ongoing. Aboriginal community leaders for years have tried to 
persuade governments to invest money in education and job 
creation for the disadvantaged young people in the area.

Skyrocketing real estate prices have put more pressure on Redfern 
residents to leave the suburb, thus dispersing a community which 
has a long history in the suburb.

Premier Bob Carr said the police would conduct an internal 
inquiry into their involvement in Thomas Hickey's death, which 
would be overseen by the Ombudsman. 

But the real agenda for inner-city Redfern, a real estate 
hotspot, was made clear by Liberal leader John Brogden, who 
stated, "I'd bring the bulldozers in".

What is needed now is a thorough, independent investigation into 
the death of Thomas Hickey, not the police investigating the 
police, as well as into the over-policing in Redfern.