Police will vote this week on a proposal to boycott an Aboriginal ghetto where a violent race riot broke out last week, leaving 40 officers injured, a news report said yesterday.
The Sydney tabloid The Sun-Herald said police are thinking about declaring the slum, known as "The Block," a no-go zone to protest an alleged lack of support from senior officers and lawmakers in the aftermath of the violence.
The Feb. 15-16 riot was triggered by the death of a 17-year-old Aborigine, Thomas Hickey, who was impaled on a fence after falling from his bicycle. His family claimed he was being chased by police, but police have denied any involvement.
Officers were feeling abandoned and were disappointed with the state government's response to the violence, the newspaper quoted Sergeant Paul Huxtable, executive officer of the police force's labor union, as saying.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/02/23/2003099821