A Perth elder has described the “terrifying” moment an alleged makeshift explosive device landed on stage at an Invasion Day rally, as Western Australia police announced they have charged a 31-year-old man with committing a life-threatening act.
Herbert Bropho, a prominent Noongar elder, was addressing the rally from the stage in Forrest Place when something was allegedly thrown on stage.
A police officer inspected the device and quickly began telling the crowd to move back from the stage.
“But they didn’t explain to people why – I told the people, you’ve got to bloody fucking move because they found a device,” Bropho told Guardian Australia.
“It was terrifying,” Bropho said. “He wanted people to run out of Forrest Chase in fear, but everybody stood their ground and wanted to continue the protest.”
He said he told crowds to move back towards a safe area, and people managed to leave calmly.
“It was a scary situation,” he said.
Sign up: AU Breaking News email
In a statement on Tuesday, police said the 31-year-old man from the northern Perth suburb of Warwick had been charged with one count of committing an unlawful act or omission with intent to harm (endangering life, health or safety of any person); and one count of making or possession of explosives under suspicious circumstances. The statement said the man was denied bail and scheduled to appear in court the same day.
The police statement alleged that the man was in attendance at the rally in Forrest Place about 12.15pm on Monday, when he “removed an item from his bag and threw it into the crowd from a first-floor walkway before fleeing the scene”.
“A member of the public alerted police, who took immediate action to protect and disperse the crowd and to isolate the suspicious item,” police said.
“The man was identified and quickly taken into custody by police on the first-floor walkway.
“Specialist officers from the WA Police Bomb Response Unit and forensic officers attended the scene and examined the item. It was confirmed to be a homemade improvised explosive device containing a mixture of volatile and potentially explosive chemicals, with nails and metal ball bearings affixed to the exterior.
“A subsequent search of the man’s home was conducted, where it is further alleged a combination of chemicals and materials consistent with the manufacture of homemade explosives was located.”
About 2,500 people were at the rally, police said.
Bropho said the rally had been a “peaceful protest, trying to raise our issues like stealing of land and the closing of the detention centre”. They kept marching after the incident to show they weren’t cowed.
“We protesting for the issues of our people and so we finished the march.”
Earlier on Tuesday the WA police commissioner, Col Blanch, told media that the device was designed to explode on impact but the fuse failed, the ABC reported.
Others who attended Monday’s march told Guardian Australia that there was “chaos” as people didn’t immediately know why police had stopped the speeches.
“They tried to get the elders and everyone from going into Forrest Chase [shopping centre] but we didn’t know why, they refused to let us have our usual ceremony,” attendee Jade Cameron said. “We managed to get the elders away and safe and proceed through.”
Bropho said the incident would stay with him and others in the community at Invasion Day events in the future. The 50-year-old has attended protests since he was a young boy and said he was “not going to stop protesting”.
“I’m gonna still have that in my head when we go to the next Invasion Day rally. It’s going to be embedded in our minds now.”
