Violent riots erupted outside an Alice Springs hospital after police arrested 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis for the suspected murder of five-year-old Aboriginal girl Kumanjayi Little Baby, who disappeared Saturday night from a town camp. About 200 protesters attacked police and paramedics with projectiles, damaged vehicles, and attempted arson, with some demanding traditional Aboriginal payback justice rather than legal proceedings. Lewis, released from prison just six days before the girl's disappearance, was found unconscious after a sustained community assault before police intervened, and was later flown to Darwin for custody with charges expected soon. While some protesters invoked payback, the victim's grandfather Robin Granites and local Indigenous leaders called for calm, emphasizing that mob violence contradicts traditional Warlpiri values and that carefully structured elder-led justice differs fundamentally from revenge attacks.
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