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BRISBANE - Queensland's top public servant in charge of indigenous affairs will arrive in Aurukun today to quell tensions in the troubled northern community in the wake of a violent riot.
An angry mob of more than 200 people rampaged through the Cape York community on Tuesday night after a local Aboriginal man claimed he had been assaulted while in police custody.
Police officers, their families and Aboriginal elders had to seek refuge in the police station, and an officer was forced to fire into the station floor to scare off the mob after the rioters tried to hack their way through the front door with an axe.
Since the riot, Aurukun's police contingent of six has been boosted to 30 and police have requested the canteen be temporarily closed in a bid to maintain calm.
The Queensland government will today send Pauline Peel, its coordinator of indigenous service delivery, to Aurukun to meet with community leaders.
Police are wary of more unrest after more than 150 cartons of alcohol were stolen from the local canteen during the riot and dispersed throughout the usually dry Aurukun community.
The government has promised a thorough investigation into the alleged assault, while the Crime and Misconduct Commission will work with police and a special indigenous adviser to investigate the riot.
However, Acting Queensland Police Commissioner Dick Conder yesterday said the Aurukun man who made the assault allegations that sparked the riot had told officers at Aurukun he had received his injuries fighting with his brother.
Hours later, he made the police assault claim after he was taken to Cairns for hospital treatment.
"He had minor injuries and a lump to the head and had informed police that earlier that day he had been fighting with his brother and they were the cause of those minor injuries," Mr Conder said.
The man had been arrested by police for breaching bail relating to an alleged assault on Tuesday morning and had been "in custody all day", Mr Conder said.
He fell ill while in police custody and was flown to Cairns Base Hospital for treatment, before being taken to the Cairns watchhouse.
Aboriginal activist Murrandoo Yanner said the riot was another sign of souring relations between police and members of indigenous communities in the fall-out from the death in custody of Palm Island man Mulrunji Doomadgee in 2004.
"This is a sure sign of things to come, not just in the Cape York and lower Gulf, but throughout Australia," he said.
"Aurukun is certainly just the second ship to flood. I think it's going to get worse for both sides.
"I can see a police officer being severely injured and one of us getting shot.
"Now, in no way am I encouraging violence, but I can understand and sympathise, and relate to it."
- AAP
