Welcome to Australian Human Rights Watch. This article is an example of the many human rights abuses suffered by Australia's Aboriginal people.
Aboriginal elders are urging peaceful protests over the death in police custody of 36-year-old Cameron Doomadgee on Palm Island, just off the coast of North Queensland.
About 200 people met in Townsville, North Queensland. (Friday December 04, 2004)
They discussed plans to protest in support of about 20 men, who were arrested over last week's riot on the island.
The riot was sparked by the death of Mr Doomadgee after being in police custody for 1 hour.
His was the latest in a long line of Aboriginal deaths in custody.
"Islander Roy Branwell, who was in an adjoining cell when Doomadgee was locked up, claims he saw police assaulting him, sitting on his chest punching him, and calling out "Have you had enough now Doomadgee, have you had enough?"
------------------------------
Extract from - Right to 'Riot' by Mick Lambe
Latest Police theory
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11551428%5E952,00.html
A theory has been advanced in the Courier mail (December 01) by Queensland police, that Cameron Doomadgee suffered two broken ribs when hit by a car 48 hours before his death in police custody.
"Police are investigating the claim... (and say it has) ...the potential to become crucial evidence".
The Courier Mail's headline - 'Island man broke ribs in car crash' - is misleading because the claim is unsubstantiated...
"The alleged car accident was not reported to police or medical staff on the island... (and Doomadgee's) family have denied any knowledge of an accident."
(Police now say "a family member" provided this information. The Age - December 02)
___________
Even if true -- (and Police have been branded "liars" - regarding this car crash allegation in the NT News, December 02) -- how this helps the Queensland Police cause is a mystery, given the extent of Cameron's injuries...
...a ruptured liver, spleen and portal vein (intra-abdominal haemorrhage) as well as four broken ribs and a punctured lung?
These are not injuries that inspire song, the reason police arrested Cameron for causing a "public nuisance".
______________
More of the same
The police suppressing facts about the response and performance of ambulance officers...
- On December 1st, the Courier Mail reported that a "Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman said only police could say if ambulance officers had been called to treat Doomadgee at the watchhouse, and police have declined to comment until a Crime and Misconduct Commission probe is complete."
...while releasing an unsubstantiated claim in mid-investigation to the press, is inconsistent with the Queensland police's aggressive assertions of there being "no evidence of impropriety on the part of the arresting officers."
These tactics parallel police behaviour at Redfern, Port Keats, ad infinitum... similarities that should be of far more interest to the media, than the uniformity of recent responses by Aboriginal people to the deaths of their people in police custody.
These recurring themes, by both police and Aboriginal people, are symptomatic of systemic racism in Australia.
Tangled web of spin
The real dilemma this 'theory' presents for the Queensland police is its inherent challenge to the police-friendly autopsy finding of Cameron's death being an "accident... (and one) ...consistent with a fall on the police station's concrete steps."
Police obviously believe the Coroner may have been unable to detect and distinquish a previous trauma 'inconsistent' with (an accidental) fall on the police station's concrete steps."
Police can't have it both ways.
And if the Queensland Police have no faith in the Coroner's ability and findings, why should the people of Palm Island?
Cameron Doomadgee was killed by the actions/inactions of the Queensland police, while in their custody and that is an undeniable fact.
What next from the Queensland police?
A suicide note?