Children in Alice Springs will not be allowed outside their homes at night after the Northern Territory government mandated an emergency curfew to curb escalating violence in the red centre. Chaos descended on Alice Springs on Tuesday afternoon when a large group attacked the Todd Tavern, leaving a $30,000 damage bill, as tensions escalated following the death of a teenager. Chief Minister Eva Lawler labelled the attack horrific and unacceptable.
Later on Tuesday evening, the ceremony continued at Hidden Valley town camp outside Alice Springs when more than 150 people were involved in a violent brawl. “Family were undertaking some further ceremony and the opposing family then came outside that camp and about 150 people engaged in a violent confrontation with numerous weapons, tomahawks axes, knives and clubs,” Murphy said. The brawl resulted in broken windows, smoke damage to a house and a car set on fire.