Hundreds at riot youth's funeral

Extra police were on standby near a remote Outback town today as hundreds of mourners attended the funeral of a teenage boy whose death sparked a nine-hour riot in an Aboriginal ghetto in Sydney.

Hundreds of miles away, in Sydney, dozens of police including dog handlers warily watched hundreds of Aborigines who staged a march near the scene of the riot to protest at the death of 17-year-old Thomas Hickey.

The marchers, wearing T-shirts bearing Hickey’s picture and carrying flowers, demanded an independent inquiry into his death.

Claims that police chased Hickey to his death on February 15 sparked the rampage by mostly Aboriginal teenagers that left 40 officers injured.

Police denied any involvement in the death and said officers tried to save Hickey’s life after he fell off his bicycle and became impaled on a metal fence.

Local Aboriginal leader Kevin Smith urged the crowd to protest peacefully.

“If we can march along in solemnness and sadness we will let the whole world see how sad we feel in this community,” he said. “We want to try to maintain the peace. We will show the world we are not the hoodlums and thugs that they make us out to be.”

In Hickey’s home town of Walgett, 310 miles northwest of Sydney, his coffin was carried out of the local Anglican church through a guard of honour formed by the rugby team he played for.

Hundreds of Aborigines attended the service. The casket, draped with the Aboriginal flag, was then carried down the town’s main street, trailed by tearful mourners. All shops in town were closed in a mark of respect.

“Certainly everything’s very peaceful there,” Walgett Mayor Peter Waterford told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. “The elders have been telling everyone to quieten down.”

Extra police from four nearby country towns were on standby just in case, Superintendent Stan Single said.

“We’ve got our own resources which cover seven towns. They’re all on standby … but likely we won’t need it,” he said.

Hickey’s extended family joined his mother and six sisters at the funeral, but his father, Ian West, who is in prison did not join them.

Six people have been charged so far over the nine-hour riot, including Hickey’s aunt, who also missed the funeral after a magistrate ordered her held in pre-trial detention last Friday.

A coroner is investigating Hickey’s death and police are holding an internal investigation into their role.