A huge pile of weapons, including spears and bows and arrows, have been seized in the troubled remote aboriginal community of Wadeye in the Northern Territory.
The Northern Territory Police Force said they received multiple reports of individuals roaming the streets of the community on Friday afternoon while allegedly armed with weapons amid a suspected family feud.
When officers arrived they saw six males with “improvised weapons” walking near the Wadeye Health Clinic and directed them to stop, but one of the men allegedly aimed a bow and arrow at police. Officers used OC spray and the men fled into nearby bushland.
Police then searched multiple properties and seized weapons including spears, bows and arrows, crossbows, boomerangs, axes, machetes, a meat cleaver, a baseball bat, star pickets and iron bars.
Acting Senior Sergeant Jason Canning said, “We will continue working closely with community leaders and families involved.
“We have been in close contact with relevant stakeholders, including Traditional Owners and members of the families who are currently feuding, and there is a shared expectation that these violent disturbances must come to an end.”
The seizure comes after Wadeye, which is one of the largest aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory and home to about 2,000 people from more than a dozen clans, was rocked by multiple violent disturbances earlier this month and in December.
During one clash a man was shot with a crossbow during a fight between 15 people that was linked to unrest involving about 100 people, some armed with edged weapons, that broke out a couple of days earlier.
Police said up to 100 people gathered in the area, some armed with blunt and edged weapons, and three cars were set on fire.
Violence also erupted in Wadeye in early December on the eve of a No More march against domestic, family and sexual violence.
Hundreds of aboriginals then fought running battles in Maningrida in Arnhem Land between January 1 and January 4, and in nearby Ramingining up to 40 people fought with blunt and edged weapons, including spears, just before Christmas, and a clash between 30 people broke out in Yuendumu near Alice Springs on January 8.
Header image: The weapons seized by police (NT Police).
