About 400 indigenous people gathered at the hospital where the suspect was taken after being beaten unconscious by locals
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenReutersPublished: 4:10pm, 1 May 2026Hundreds of protesters clashed with Australian emergency services workers in a remote town following the arrest of a man suspected of murdering a five-year-old indigenous girl, police said on Friday.
Australia’s prime minister, the Northern Territory’s police commissioner and a spokesperson for the victim’s family all appealed for calm after an angry crowd of roughly 400 indigenous people gathered on Thursday night at the hospital where the suspect was taken after being beaten unconscious by locals.
Footage of the protests from public broadcaster ABC showed members of the crowd calling for payback, which refers to traditional, mostly physical, punishment in Aboriginal societies.
They threw projectiles and lit fires, injuring a number of police officers and medical workers, while also damaging police vehicles, ambulances and fire trucks. Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters.
Jefferson Lewis, a 47-year-old man who police say they believe abducted and killed the girl, presented himself to one of the town camps in Alice Springs, Northern Territory Police Commissioner Martin Dole said at a news conference.
