2004 Redfern riots

The Redfern Riots on 14 February 2004 happened in the inner Sydney suburb of Redfern after the death of Thomas 'TJ' Hickey, a 17-year-old Australian Aboriginal.

The boy was riding home from his girlfriend's house on his bicycle when he saw a police car and thought it was chasing him. Police later said the police car was looking for a different person. While the police chased him, Hickey lost control of his bicycle and rode into a spiked fence.

Friends and relatives came together at The Block to mourn. Fliers were given out, which said it was the police's fault that the boy died. Unhappy aboriginal youths arrived from other parts of Sydney at the Redfern railway station. The police closed the entrance to the station, but the crowd had turned violent and began to throw bottles, bricks and Molotov cocktails.

The violence became a full riot around The Block, during which Redfern railway station was burning for a short time and was heavily damaged. The riot went on into the early morning, until police used Fire Brigade water hoses to get the crowd apart. One car, stolen in a western suburb, was burnt, and 40 police officers were hurt.

2004 Redfern Riots Media

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  Fireworks being shot at police on Lawson Street during the riot

Related pages

• 2005 Macquarie Fields riots
• 2005 Cronulla riots

Other websites

• Redfern riots special Archived 2006-11-07 at the Wayback Machine (Sydney Morning Herald) - several stories about the riots and its endings.