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The Northern Territory’s famous Don Dale youth detention center is closed indefinitely after rioting inmates set fire to the education sector and climbed onto the roof.
Police were called to central Darwin on Wednesday afternoon after reports of smoke coming from the education center and 14 children on the roof of the building.
The children allegedly threw projectiles at staff and police, sending one officer to the hospital with a broken leg.
On Thursday morning, six children remained on the roof, but were removed at 9am.
Young rioters climbed to the roof of the Northern Territory’s Don Dale detention center
Territory Families chief executive Emma White said the facility was now closed indefinitely while an investigation was carried out.
“The nature of the youth at Don Dale is that they are teenagers with very complex backgrounds … they often have really problematic behaviors,” he said Thursday.
“And sometimes that means conflict and that’s what happened yesterday and it’s escalated.”
White said the department hoped the investigation would be completed Thursday afternoon and the children would be released from confinement.
NT Territorial Families Minister Ngaree Ah Kit said the center was fully staffed at the time and police were called to calm the situation.
“I would like to be able to give a guarantee that all the staff we have… will stop a young person from causing a serious incident like yesterday,” he said.
“The answer is no, I can’t.”
The NT’s Territorial Response Group (TRG), which is under investigation by the ICAC over a series of racist “awards” uncovered during a coronial inquiry, was sent to manage the unrest.
Acting Police Commissioner Martin Dole said he had no concerns about using the response group.
“TRG is a professional team and we continue to use it throughout the territory on deployments,” he told reporters Thursday.
The latest NT corrections data shows more than 90 per cent of young people detained in Darwin are Indigenous and almost half are under 14 years old.
Dole said the children who participated in the riot would be charged.
“Suffice it to say that among (the charges) there will be criminal damage, assaulting police and probably participating in a riot, I suppose,” he said.
NT Chief Minister Eva Lawler called the children “some of the worst behaved children in the NT”.
NT Minister for Families Ngaree Ah Kit (pictured right) provides an update on the unrest at the Don Dale youth detention center in Darwin.
“There are several young people who have shown abominable behavior,” he said.
“There will be actions that come from that.”
In 2016, ABC TV showed graphic images of four detainees being tear gassed at the facility.
That led to the 2017 Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children.
The NT Government accepted all 227 recommendations in full or in principle at an estimated cost of $229 million, including the closure of Don Dale.
Five years after the recommendation, the facility remains open and critics say the government is dragging its feet.
With the election coming up in August, Lawler said she remains committed to closing the facility.
A replacement facility was due to open in 2023, but the government has continued to blame construction approvals, staffing and COVID-19 for delays.
“It will be an exceptional facility when it is finished and we really can’t open it soon enough,” Ms Lawler said.
The latest disturbance comes four days after reports of a similar incident, in which detainees climbed onto the roof.