Police are treating an incident where a man allegedly threw a homemade bomb at an Invasion Day rally in Perth on Monday as a “potential terrorist act”.
About 2,500 people were at Forrest Place in the Perth CBD for the 26 January protest when a man allegedly threw what police have described as a homemade “fragment bomb” off a balcony of the nearby shopping centre into the crowd.
Western Australia’s police commissioner, Col Blanch, told the ABC on Tuesday the device was designed to explode on impact but did not detonate.
“It had the potential to explode and injure many people or kill them,” Blanch told the ABC.
A 31-year-old man from the northern Perth suburb of Warwick was arrested at the protest and faced court on Tuesday 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 court granted a suppression order to hide the man’s identity due to fears for his safety. He did not apply for bail and will appear in court again on 17 February.
A joint statement on Wednesday between WA police, Australian federal police and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) confirmed police were investigating the incident as a “potential terrorist attack”.
The statement said the WA joint counter-terrorism team investigation – made up of WA police, AFP and Asio – was ongoing, and “further charges have not been ruled out”.
“There is no ongoing threat to public safety,” the statement said.
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Speaking to reporters in Darwin, the prime minister said the man’s alleged actions were “shocking”.
“My view … is that they should throw the book at him,” he said.
“This was an incident that is quite shocking. He’s been charged with two serious offences and I look forward to him being prosecuted to the full force of the law.”
Blanch said he also briefed the federal home affairs minister, Tony Burke, on Monday. Burke declined to comment to Guardian Australia.
“We’re in the process of deconstructing the device, downloading his electronic devices, interviewing him, probably on multiple occasions, so there may be more charges forthcoming,” Blanch said.
“If there are going to be other charges forthcoming we’re going to have to collect additional evidence as far as motivation, ideologies or anything else but at this stage we don’t have that.”
He added that at this stage man is believed to have acted alone.
Footage released by WA police late on Tuesday shows a man wearing a black shirt throwing an object from a balcony before running away.
The footage also shows an object dropping through the air and landing next to a person wearing an Aboriginal flag T-shirt, in front of a stage where elders were addressing the crowd.
Police body camera footage also showed the moment officers started to evacuate the square, with a wall of uniformed police attempting to push back protesters.
One officer can be heard saying: “This is not a drill. Your safety is paramount to us. That is our primary concern. Please, head back from Forrest Chase, we must clear the area. I cannot make it any clearer, please head back.”
WA police, including forensic teams and officers in camouflage gear, raided the man’s home in Warwick on Monday and allegedly found “a combination of chemicals and materials consistent with the manufacture of homemade explosives”.
The federal Indigenous affairs minister, Malarndirri McCarthy, said that the incident as described by police “could have been a mass casualty event”.
“The targeting of a peaceful rally led by First Nations people is sickening,” she said in a statement posted to social media. “There is no place for hate, intimidation, or racism of any form in Australia. First Nations Australians, all Australians, should be able to gather peacefully without fearing for their safety.”
The independent senator Lidia Thorpe has called on the federal government to “lead a comprehensive response” to the incident. She condemned any attack on First Peoples, at a “time when far-right extremism is an escalating threat”.
“What happened in Perth was not a minor incident,” Thorpe said in a statement. “An explosive device was thrown into a crowd of First Peoples and supporters on our Day of Mourning.”
Thorpe called for a “comprehensive investigation” including into any potential “policing and intelligence failures that allowed First Peoples to be placed at risk of serious injury and death”.
Blanch met with Noongar elders in Perth on Wednesday to discuss the investigation.
Megan Krakouer, a Menang Noongar woman and social justice advocate who organised the meeting, said Monday’s incident left her “absolutely appalled” and “devastated” – but not surprised.
“There’s so much hate, frustration, animosity and confusion right across the nation in relation to First Nations people,” Krakouer told Guardian Australia. “There were Elders, there were children, there were community leaders, there were people who came out in goodwill to support a peaceful Invasion Day rally which has been held for many, many years.
“Sure, we have different views, but this was next level, and it’s scary to think that this was thrown right near the stage where the organisers were and other people who were giving speeches.
“Had it gone off, we would’ve been dealing with fatalities and casualties.”
Fabian Yarran, a Noongar man who organised the rally, said it was a “very traumatic” event.
“It was very confusing with the instructions that police gave to us. It was very vague and none of us knew how serious the situation was,” he said.
But he said it would “not deter” him from organising another rally next year.
“We can’t let the hateful people win, we need to push on for our ancestors, for our people and for who we are as a people,” he said.
