A large crowd gathered in Sydney on Sunday to mourn a disabled Warlpiri man who died in police custody in Mparntwe/Alice Springs last week.
The 24-year-old — known now as Kumanjayi White — was under state care and reportedly living in supported accommodation when he died on Tuesday after being restrained by two plain-clothed officers following an alleged altercation with a security guard.
At the end of Reconciliation Week, which coincided with the fifth anniversary of the death in custody of George Floyd Jr. in the United States, an outpouring of grief was seen in the Red Centre last week.
It prompted calls for an independent investigation and reignited national concern over the treatment of First Nations people by police, as well as the criminalisation of disability in the country.
The ABC reported that Dunghutti man and activist Paul Silva, the nephew of David Dungay Jnr, who died in custody at Sydney's Long Bay Prison in 2015, told the crowd at Sydney's Town Hall they stood in solidarity and mourned with Kumanjayi's family and community.
"We are committed to find justice, not just for his family but for the community and all Aboriginal deaths in custody," he said.
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NT Police have said plain-clothed officers responded after Kumanjayi allegedly assaulted a security guard who had confronted the 24-year-old about allegedly shoplifting.
The comments prompted his grandfather, Warlpiri Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, to state: "It is disgraceful that police are already putting out stories that portray my jaja (grandson) as a criminal."
"We are always told by lawyers that we need to wait for investigations to take place before we comment on events," he said.
In a statement last week, Mr Hargraves said he was "angry and frustrated that yet another one of our young men has lost his life at the hands of the police".
"We are demanding answers and justice. We know that he was held down by two police until he lost consciousness and perished. But at the moment, we are in the dark about what really happened," he said.
"What are the police doing using such force on a vulnerable young man in a supermarket? Did they even try to de-escalate?"
Police say they "restrained the adult male" after the altercation at an Alice Springs Coles; however, the male "stopped breathing and CPR was commenced".
He died 70 minutes later.
Police have not explained how restraining somebody can lead to their death, what restraint they used, or what the meaning of "placed on the ground" means.
Witnesses say they saw an officer with their knee on the back of Kumanjayi's head, whilst others have told National Indigenous Times he was allegedly put in a "headlock" by one of the security guards.
One of the people reportedly involved in the arrest is Police Prosecutor Steven Haig, with NT Police questioned as to whether he will continue to work in his role as a prosecutor whilst under investigation.
NT Police last week rejected calls from the family, advocates, and even politicians for an independent inquiry, despite allegations that institutional bias would be unavoidable.
They have also not responded to calls to release the CCTV footage of the incident to the family.
Assistant Police Commissioner Travis Wurst has said he will lead the investigation to "provide oversight," along with NT Police's Professional Standards Command. He said this would "ensure it's done independently and transparently".
Guardian Australia reported on Friday that Solicitor George Newhouse wrote to the Acting Commissioner on behalf of the family, arguing comments already made by the police, where they allege criminality on behalf of Kumanjayi, risk "prejudicing public understanding and [causing] significant and unnecessary distress to the family".
"Furthermore, where the agency commenting is the very institution whose actions are under scrutiny and who are investigating themselves, such statements raise legitimate concerns about institutional bias and lack of procedural fairness," he wrote.
Grassroots community group Justice not Jails said the NT Police's use of internal investigations, despite "long-standing and well-documented patterns of racial discrimination", was "not transparent nor trustworthy".
Standing in solidarity with the family, member Thomas Mayo said a "mere glimpse at the record of police investigating themselves when there are allegations of racial violence against them is enough to understand why the family and community are calling for an independent investigation".
"I ask anyone with a sense for fairness and justice to loudly support the family of Kumanjayi White and their demands."
Kumanjayi's death marks the ninth First Nations death in custody this year and at least the 594th since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
No one has ever been convicted in relation to those deaths.
