The organisers of an Invasion Day rally in Perth’s CBD on Monday have urged police to investigate a man who allegedly threw an improvised bomb into the crowd for potentially committing an act of terrorism and a hate crime.
They say they were also subject to “several serious threats” in the lead up to the event.
A 31-year-old man from Perth’s north, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared in court on Tuesday charged with throwing the explosive into the crowd on Monday, at a rally in protest of WA’s Australia Day celebrations.
Thousands of people gathered in Forrest Place in Perth’s city centre to attend the event, which had to be evacuated after a member of the public told an attending police officer something had been thrown into the crowd.
Footage captured from nearby CCTV cameras and released by WA Police show a man on the terrace of the Myer building hurl something into the crowd below, before attempting to round a corner where police had walked just moments before.
Body-worn camera vision from police shows officers attempt to notify the crowd, and push them back away from the potential detonation site.
A man was quickly arrested and has been charged with intent to harm and making an explosive in suspicious circumstances.
An examination by WA Police found the device had been designed to detonate, and contained nails, ball-bearings and volatile chemicals.
Rally organiser Fabian Yarran said police needed to investigate further charges against the man.
“This incident must be fully investigated as an act of terrorism and a hate crime against First Nations people and protesters, and appropriately charged as such,” he said.
Yarran was scathing of WA Police’s response to the incident, and said the authority had failed to take threats in the lead-up to the rally seriously.
“The police, government and media response in the 24 hours following the incident has been inadequate, consisting solely of investigations and charges for less serious, non-terror and non-hate offences,” he said.
“The rally had already received several serious threats, yet these were not appropriately addressed due to a lack of police communication. This failure placed organisers, participants, and the broader community at risk.”
In court on Wednesday, the man successfully applied to have his identity suppressed to protect his safety.
“In these circumstances it could be seen that a class of people may have been the target of the offending,” his duty lawyer Maddison Darch said.
“If [the man] was to be identified as the person who is accused of these allegations, his safety in a custodial environment would be in jeopardy.”
Darch told the court the man would be at risk both in prison and in the community if his name was known, and his family were also concerned they could be linked to his alleged offending.
Yarran called for the recently announced royal commission into antisemitism to be expanded to target all forms of racism, and in particular, the rise of the far-right movement in Australia.
His concerns were echoed by national anti-racist organisation Democracy in Colour national director Noura Mansour, who said what had been alleged should amount to a hate crime.
“What we saw in Perth was a calculated attempt to cause mass harm to First Nations people and their supporters and should not be downplayed by the media and authorities,” she said.
“To treat this as a simple criminal matter rather than a targeted act of hate is a slap in the face to the communities living under the threat of far-right violence.”
It is understood WA Police are currently investigating whether the man accused of throwing the grenade had come to their or federal authorities’ attention previously.
Police Commissioner Col Blanch said on Tuesday the force’s state security unit was investigating whether it would be deemed a potential terror attack.
“To be an act of terrorism, it requires one of three things, either a political motivation, a religious motivation, or some type of ideology and advancing that cause,” he said.
“Until we understand the motivation through downloading devices, interviewing the male, or finding other materials, we can’t make that determination yet.”
WA Defence Issues Minister Paul Papalia on Wednesday said labelling the incident an act of terror required confirmation of motivations, “I’m not sure that [police] understand the motivations behind this individual”.
“With respect to this incident, [declaring it a terrorism event] … doesn’t change the manner of the investigation or the response to the incident, and there is no further threat from any other individuals associated with the event. So that’s not really an important matter,” Papalia said.
WA Police were contacted for further comment.
