Aboriginal elders have called for calm among the demonstrators, many of them children, who have been changing “fuck the police” and accusing officers of “trying to kill all black kids”.
Aboriginal boxing champion Anthony Mundine joined the demonstrators, saying he was seeking justice.
Mundine described the alleged shooting of Aboriginal Troy Taylor, 17, as “brutality at its best”.
Taylor, who is in a coma, is alleged to have been behind the wheel of a stolen car shot at by police at 4am on Saturday after the vehicle mounted a kerb and mowed down a pedestrian in Sydney’s red light district of Kings Cross,
There were juvenile passengers in the car at the time.
Video footage released after the incident shows the driver being punched by police officers after being pulled out of the car.
Douglas Martin, 16, who said he knew the boys shot at by police, called for the police to be punished.
“You got a reason to hate the coppers, you know, when you’re a young kid. But this crosses the line. (It’s) straight-out racism,” the angry teenager said.
“I want them to get punished. Treat them the same as normal citizens. Just because they’re coppers, that’s just a … uniform, that’s just a name.
“Treat them the same as us. Why can’t they get sent to jail for shooting someone?”
NSW police have defended the officers’ actions.
Greens MP David Shoebridge has urged the NSW government to hold an independent inquiry into the matter.
Image via Getty