Wild scenes have erupted on the streets of Alice Springs after the arrest of Jefferson Lewis over the alleged murder of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby.
Tear gas has been deployed, projectiles have been thrown, and several police cars have been damaged after an angry crowd gathered at Alice Springs Hospital.
Note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article includes an image of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of their family.
This article also contains details some readers may find distressing.
Kumanjayi Little Baby vanished from a house at Old Timers town camp on Saturday night.
One of the Northern Territory’s biggest-ever searches ensued to find the missing girl, but tragically, she was found dead by a police search party yesterday morning.
The body of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby was found just before midday on Thursday. (Supplied: NT Police Force)
Hours after her death was announced, Mr Lewis, 47, was reportedly spotted wandering outside Charles Creek town camp near the centre of Alice Springs.
It is understood he was badly beaten by a group of people in the area after being recognised as the man police were hunting over the alleged abduction and murder of Kumanjayi Little Baby.
NT Police confirmed Mr Lewis had been arrested last night and a video of the arrest, seen and verified by the ABC, showed Mr Lewis unresponsive and face down in the dirt as officers wearing gloves put handcuffs on him.
Two police officers with a riot shield behind a police vehicle outside Alice Springs Hospital. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)
He was then taken to Alice Springs Hospital, where a huge crowd of Aboriginal people gathered, yelling that Mr Lewis needed to face “payback” and accusing the police of protecting him.
Many were chanting that he should be killed for his alleged attack on Kumanjayi Little Baby.
“Payback” is a term for traditional punishment under Aboriginal lore in Central Australia.
Crowd turns against police
Police were seen using pepper spray and holding positions out the front of the Alice Springs Hospital. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)
The crowd started yelling at the officers before throwing rocks, bottles and other projectiles at the police and their vehicles.
Many people filmed on their phones when rocks, a bin and large sticks were thrown at a police barricade, before police threw tear gas and fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.
Attempts were made to set a police vehicle on fire during the incident outside Alice Springs Hospital. (ABC News: Xavier Martin/Matthew Garrick)
People attempted to set an empty police car parked on Gap Road alight and smashed it with street signs and sticks.
Riot police pulled one person to the ground and used pepper spray to force the crowd backwards, away from the car.
The violence erupted after police announced they had arrested Jefferson Lewis in relation to the death of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)
A cameraman from Channel 10 was seen being sprayed in the face.
An older woman in the crowd told the ABC that Mr Lewis had to be punished for his alleged crimes.
“She was an innocent little baby, so vulnerable, yet they are protecting him,” the woman said.
The riot broke out hours after police arrested a man in relation to the death of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)
“Come on, let us have him.”
Another woman, who said she was related to Kumanjayi Little Baby, said she also believed the police were protecting Jefferson Lewis from traditional lore.
“I am angry … for what he [allegedly] did to my little baby cousin,” she said.
Harley Myers, an Arrernte man from Alice Springs, said people had gathered because they were hurt.
Arrernte man Harley Myers says people had gathered outside the hospital because they are hurt. (ABC News: Xavier Martin.)
“The feeling is that [the police] are protecting this guy. They are shooting us with rubber bullets,” Mr Myers said.
“It’s like the system is not sticking up for us and letting us get our own traditional payback.”
“We’re united because it hurts all of us … because she was only five years old and it could happen to any of our kids.
“I don’t want that to happen to any of our kids at all.”
Mr Lewis is in hospital, although the extent of his injuries is unknown.
NT police are yet to release any details about arrests in connection with Thursday night’s violence, but said they would provide an update today on Mr Lewis’s arrest.