Aborigines in second Australian police attack

CANBERRA, Jan 11 (Reuters) A group of Aborigines stormed an Australian police station in a remote Outback region, breaking windows and hurling rocks, in the second such attack by indigenous Australians in days, police said today.

Around 100 people carrying sticks and iron bars attacked a police station in the Northern Territory community of Maningrida, about 500 km east of Darwin, yesterday.

The attack, following the arrest of a 19-year-old man who had helped smash a police van, occurred only hours after a riot at a community in neighbouring Queensland state late on Tuesday.

Northern Territory police said the Maningrida unrest was defused by local tribal elders, who pleaded for peace. The two attacks appeared to be unrelated.

More than 30 police reinforcements were flown to the Queensland community of Aurukun yesterday and an emergency zone was declared after more than 300 people rioted, attacking the police station, shops and a local tavern.

Tensions have been high in Queensland following a state prosecutor's decision last month not to charge a police officer over the death in custody of an Aboriginal man on Palm Island, near Townsville.

Many of Australia's 460,000 Aborigines live in remote outback communities with poor access to jobs, good housing, health services and education. Aborigines account for just 2.3 per cent of the 20 million population, but suffer high rates of domestic violence and alcohol abuse.

Reuters SP DB1229