Aboriginal protesters have led repeated protests against this year's Commonwealth Games in Australia (AFP Photo/Ye Aung THU) |
Gold Coast (Australia) (AFP) - An Aboriginal man whose abuse in custody shocked Australia tried to throttle himself in the back of a police van following angry protests at the Commonwealth Games on Friday.
Police said
Dylan Voller, whose mistreatment in juvenile detention triggered a national
inquiry, tied part of his T-shirt around his neck and was gasping for air
before he was cut free.
Voller, 21,
was one of five activists who were arrested during Friday's confrontation with
a heavy police presence, the latest in a series of protests during the Games.
"(Police)
found that the individual had actually torn part of his T-shirt and tied it
around his neck and tied a knot and appeared to be grasping for air and choking
as a result of that," police assistant commissioner Brian Codd said.
Police
stopped the van and used a penknife to cut through the material, Codd said.
Voller received medical attention under police custody but is not in a serious
condition.
"My
fear is that if they hadn't of done that we could have had a very, very serious
outcome," Codd said.
Voller and
four others were arrested after dozens of indigenous activists attempted to
disrupt a live TV broadcast on a beach at Gold Coast, the Games' host city.
They
chanted "No Games, no justice!" as they were blocked by a heavy
police presence who stopped them marching to the scene of the TV broadcast.
Protesters
who have dubbed the event the "Stolenwealth Games" have staged a
number of demonstrations including at the opening ceremony, where three people
were arrested in clashes with police.
The
treatment of Voller became the focus of public outrage after footage was
broadcast of prison guards assaulting mostly indigenous boys in the Northern
Territory, including stripping them naked and using tear gas.
Images
released in 2015 showed Voller, then 17, hooded and shackled to a mechanical
restraint chair and left alone for two hours.
It prompted
a Royal Commission into treatment of children in detention, which last year
made multiple recommendations, including the immediate closure of the Don Dale
detention centre in which Voller was held.
Aboriginal
culture stretches back tens of thousands of years but indigenous people are now
the most disadvantaged in Australia, with higher rates of poverty, ill-health
and imprisonment than any other community.
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