Kill police as payback, says radical
01.12.2004
BLACK radical Murrandoo Yanner could face criminal charges after yesterday advocating that police be killed as payback for the death in custody of an Aboriginal man on Queensland's Palm Island.
Blaming police for the November 19 death of Cameron Doomadgee, 36, Mr Yanner said: ``When someone's killed, someone must be killed in return.
``If this policeman isn't punished, jailed or charged with murder, under the law, if you can't get one policeman you get another,'' he told AAP.
Mr Yanner, who wants to attend his relative's funeral, expected to be held on Palm Island next week, said Aboriginal Australia regarded last Friday's riot and February's explosion of violence in Redfern as ``moments to be extremely proud of''.
``We look around at Palm Island, Redfern, and go, `bloody good on ya, one for us'. I can't wait until I have my go,'' he said.
Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson last night said he would seek legal advice ``as to whether the comments constitute any offence''.
Queensland Police Union acting president Denis Fitpatrick said Mr Yanner was ``a mere criminal in search of a meaningful existence''.
ATSIC chairman Geoff Clark blamed the Howard Government for the rising racial tension, which he predicted would escalate.
``You'll see it across the board from a whole range of Aboriginal people if this Government doesn't put the brakes on and re-engage with Aboriginal people,'' he said.
``I'm not supporting anybody being killed, but I understand the frustration.''
Democrats Aboriginal senator Aden Ridgeway said Mr Yanner's comments indicated Aborigines had ``no confidence in white man's law to be able to deliver justice''.
He said the 18 Palm Island residents charged with rioting should face traditional justice.
``I don't excuse any comments that are made to incite violence but I can understand where they come from,'' Senator Ridgeway said.
``We ought not to look at Palm Island in isolation but as part of a growing tension in Aboriginal people across the country.''
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said Mr Yanner's talk was ``counter-productive'' and said the Crime and Misconduct Commission should be allowed to finish its job of investigating Doomadgee's death.
That process continued with CMC investigators back on Palm Island yesterday, their first appearance there since the Friday riot.
Police Minister Judy Spence called on the Palm Island Council to distance themselves from Mr Yanner's comments.
``Statements such as those do not help resolve the situation,'' she said.
The island community erupted in anger after an initial autopsy revealed Doomadgee sustained four broken ribs and a ruptured spleen and liver during a scuffle with a police officer during his arrest on November 19.
A second autopsy -- requested by Doomadgee's family -- was performed on his body yesterday by a Victorian pathologist.
