A 31-year-old Perth man has been charged after allegedly throwing an explosive device into a crowd at an Invasion Day rally in the CBD.
WA Police allege the Warwick man lobbed a glass object “about the size of a medium coffee cup” towards the main stage at Forrest Place at 12.30pm on January 26, while thousands were gathered for the rally.
Officers say the container held screws, ball bearings and an explosive liquid, and will allege it was designed to explode on impact.
“Members of the public … observed a male throw an object down in front of the stage area,” WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said at a press conference, adding that the man allegedly indicated the device “may contain explosives”.
Blanch later told 6PR that preliminary testing showed “the liquid was an explosive liquid, in fact there were multiple liquid compounds”, and that police will allege “that device was designed to explode upon impact but for reasons not yet known, it didn’t”.
The rally site and parts of the surrounding CBD were evacuated as police moved people away from the stage and specialist officers made the device safe.
Premier Roger Cook slammed the incident at a press conference on Monday, calling it “completely unacceptable”.
“This Australia Day should be about unity, not division. That a peaceful protest was targeted in this fashion runs against the very heart of what it means to be Australian,” Cook said.
The man has been charged with making or possessing an explosive, and with committing an act with intent to cause harm, and is expected to appear in Perth Magistrates Court today.
Lead image: Michael Philipps / WA Today
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