People still on the streets of Alice as curfew hits third night

People were still out and about on the streets of Alice Springs as the curfew – which ended today – hit its third night.

It was a curfew with a light touch as Alice Springs experienced its third and final night of its 10pm to 6am lockdown.

There were certainly police on the street but it felt like fewer than on the previous night.

On the other hand, even when the clock was moving towards midnight there were still groups of people wandering the streets of Alice, sometimes in groups of eight or 10 people.

One officer warned one group that if “I see you again, you will be fined’’.

But it is also a slightly confused curfew. The rules state you are not allowed in the Alice Springs CBD unless you have a reason to be there. Legitimate reasons included to be there for work or to attend an entertainment venue or a restaurant.

But there was also very little open as the curfew hour ticked by. The two pubs who had their licences suspended after their alleged role in the violence which shook Alice Springs last weekend were closed by 10pm.

All that seemed to be open were fast food outlets. McDonalds and Pizza Hut were still trading. Roberto’s Pizza on Todd St was still ploughing on.

Police stop and talk to some people on Gregory Terrace who were out in the curfew. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Rubbish was strewn throughout Todd Mall.. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Pizza Hut store manager Kellie Clifton said the curfew had made little difference. She said it was a regular occurrence for, mainly young people, to cause trouble in the store, abusing staff and threatening violence.

She said her personal car had its windows smashed numerous times and work cars were regularly vandalised.

The Pizza Hut is in the same complex where a mass brawl involving around 50 people, some armed with machetes and baseball bats, erupted in the afternoon.

Ms Clifton was in lockdown in the store for most of the afternoon. She said working at night had become more dangerous since the nearby Coles started closing at 7pm rather than 10pm earlier this year. It meant there were fewer people and no more Coles security guards.

“The security guards during the day would come and see how we were going,’’ she said, “Now, if anything happens, we call the police and sometimes they come but most of the time they don’t.

“As soon as it gets dark we don’t let staff out (of the store) by themselves, we make sure there is at least two of them,’’ she said.

There had been concern that the opening on Wednesday, for the first time this week of bottle shops, could fuel trouble. The previous night, the CBD curfew seemed to have squeezed the trouble into the surrounding suburbs after a car was torched and a South Australian visitor was assaulted.

The burnt-out car was still in the same spot in Eastside Wednesday night, but the streets appeared quiet, with few people visible.

The busiest place in Alice Springs was the casino with plenty of vehicles in the car park and the impression that this place was part of a different town entirely.

Alice Springs’ latest curfew came to end at lunchtime on Thursday, with the Police Minister “not requesting an extension” of the public disorder declaration placed on the town.

In a statement, Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said the declaration will conclude at lunchtime Thursday.

He confirmed no arrest had been made in relation to the latest curfew.

“During the operational hours of the public disorder declaration over three nights, police engaged with 159 people, with 93 directed to leave the area, 20 conveyed into the care of other agencies and 18 removed from the area by police,” he said.

He said police officers responded to a man making threats to a group of people in the zone at 2.25am this morning, but said that no offence had occurred.

“There is currently no reasonable grounds for me to extend the declaration and I am confident we have capable police resourcing in Alice Springs to react and respond to any instances of crime or anti-social behaviour,” he said.