Prison rebels have set the maximum security area of Alice Springs prison on fire, following the not guilty verdict in the Constable Zach Rolfe murder trial Friday afternoon.
In the NT Supreme Court in Darwin this afternoon Const Rolfe was found not guilty of murder in the 2019 shooting of a Warlpiri teenager named Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu, Northern Territory. Warlpiri are Aboriginal people, whose traditional land is in the Northern Territory that has been colonized by Australia.
This was the first time a police officer was brought to trial for a shooting at Yuendumu, but police have often murdered Aboriginal people with impunity along the colonial frontier.
The most recent mass killing of Warlpiri people happened at Coniston in 1928, when a police constable, George Murray, led a group of men on horseback who shot and killed more than 50 men, women and children at at least six sites. Warlpiri, Anmatyerre and Kaytetye people say up to 170 were massacred.
In the unanimous decision, the jury also found Mr Rolfe not guilty of the two alternative charges of manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death.
Shortly after the verdict was handed down, the uprising began at Alice Springs prison.
Prison rebels set fire to the maximum security G block, which holds up to 25 prisoners, and the reception area, which holds up to 75 prisoners.
The areas were mainly concrete and steel, and mattresses were set on fire.