Police have released security camera footage in an attempt to identify three men who distributed racist flyers in the Sunshine Coast suburb of Tewantin, in the days before a suspected vigilante arson attack on a vacant house.
The flyers, which listed the name of an interstate white supremacist group, contained a racial slur and the images of two local girls accused of a serious assault and depravation of liberty.
The identities of three girls charged in relation to the 11 March incident – aged 12, 13 and 14 – are suppressed under Queensland law, but their names and photographs appear in hundreds of live social media posts on multiple platforms, including calls for people to “bash” them or take retribution.
Guardian Australia revealed last month that the location of the Tewantin home of two of the accused girls had been identified in dozens of social media posts calling for violence against them.
The property, owned by the Queensland Department of Housing, was destroyed in a suspected arson attack last month. Police have said there were prior incidents of vandalism and attempted arson at the address.
It is unclear whether police believe there is a direct link between the distribution of racist flyers and the arson attack. In a statement, police said were investigating possible links between the assault accusations against the girls, the flyers, and the house fire.
“Investigations indicate an unknown group of people distributed offensive and harassing materials via mail in the Tewantin area in the lead-up to the arson of the house,” police said.
“Investigators believe there may be a link between the three incidents.
“Anyone with information regarding the arson or distribution of hate mail is asked to contact police.”
Police said the three men may be able to assist with their inquiries. The footage shows the three men in the Tewantin neighbourhood. One man places a flyer in a letter box and two others are shown walking through the streets.
Guardian Australia has viewed posts – which remain online on multiple social media platforms – identifying the girls accused of the attack, and listing their addresses, physical description, ethnicity and phone numbers.
Information posted also includes the names of the girls’ family members, their phone numbers, addresses and workplace information.
One post included a map showing the location of the property, a photograph of the front of the house, names one of the girls and says: “See ya soon.”
Hundreds of posts naming the girls remain online.
There have been increasing concerns about vigilantism in Queensland, particularly amid a heightened environment relating to youth crime.
Children living in a Queensland residential care home were the subject of death threats on social media earlier this year – including calls for neighbours to “storm the house” and “hang whoever is inside” – after media reports incorrectly claimed the premises was a halfway house for young criminals.
Police also expressed concerns about the potential for vigilantism at a crime forum in Toowoomba in February, while the state’s human rights commissioner, Scott McDougall, has spoken of “the need for police to closely monitor vigilante activity”.
