Queensland police say they arrested and charged an alleged vigilante caught with “edged weapons” while attempting to pursue stolen cars in Rockhampton, amid heightened tensions in the local community.
Police say they have also charged two people with trespass for entering the back yard of a Rockhampton home on Sunday, when an angry mob of 30 people surrounded the house.
On Wednesday, the same group drove a large convoy of cars around the community, stopping at houses they claim are crime “hotspots”.
Guardian Australia revealed this week the ringleader of the group, Torin O’Brien, is the former leader of a far-right “patriots” group that regularly posted anti-Islam content.
O’Brien was kicked off Facebook for breaching the platform’s community standards, after he posted the names and images of two Aboriginal teenagers and encouraged others to attend their home.
Images from a message conversation used to arrange Wednesday night’s convoy, sent to Guardian Australia, reveal attenders using severe racist language about Aboriginal people and homophobic slurs.
One post referred to an Indigenous woman who had raised concerns about racism as “a dirty black slut”.
Another person involved in the protests has previously made death threats to Aboriginal people on Facebook.
In a post, which included a photograph of the home of an Aboriginal family, the man said “who’s got about 14 body bags for these little cunts?”
There is no suggestion the posts were made by O’Brien himself.
Members of the Indigenous community have expressed alarm at the actions of the anti-crime group, including the potential for people to be misidentified as having been involved in criminal activity.
The police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, this week said the first incident, where police stood guard outside an Indigenous teenager’s home, was based on wrong information.
Acting Det Insp Luke Peachey said on Thursday two people had been charged with trespass in relation to that incident.
He also said that a man, 19, had been charged after allegedly attempting to chase a car he believed to be stolen. When police pulled him over, they found weapons, “including edged weapons”, in the car.
O’Brien and police have been in an ongoing dialogue, even as he has been kicked off Facebook and shunned by politicians, who cancelled a planned meeting after the Guardian revealed his links to the far right.
Peachey said he had met O’Brien on Thursday morning.
“We’ve got to take a deep breath at the moment and remain calm,” he said.
“The community is bubbling at the moment. I’ve met with Mr O’Brien this morning and we had a really good [conversation].
“He gets my point of view, and I get his point of view 100%.
“Obviously we don’t condone any vigilante behaviour. I don’t care what side of the stone you come from, if you’re committing offences … then you will be charged.”
