Yesterday, an unsettling incident unfolded in the CBD as a crowd of approximately 2,500 protesters was evacuated around 12:30 PM after a suspicious device was hurled into their midst at Forrest Place.
According to a spokesperson from WA Police, authorities will argue that a man extracted an item from his bag and tossed it into the gathered crowd from a first-floor walkway before making a quick escape.
Following the incident, a 31-year-old man from Warwick, located in Perth’s northern suburbs, was apprehended on the same walkway. Police claimed he informed them that the device might contain explosives.
Fortunately, the device did not detonate, and no injuries were reported during the alarming event.
Today, police have suggested that the homemade improvised explosive device was crafted with a combination of volatile chemicals, potentially explosive in nature, and was encased with nails and metal ball bearings.
WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch shared on radio station 6PR this morning, “We will allege that the device was intended to explode upon impact. However, for reasons we have yet to determine, it did not.”
“This was responded to as a mass casualty event, a potential mass casualty event,” Blanch said last night.
Police raided a home in Warwick yesterday, where they allegedly found chemicals and materials commonly used to make homemade explosives.
The 31-year-old man was today charged with making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances and one count of an unlawful act or omission with intent to harm.
He was refused bail to appear before Perth Magistrates Court today.
WA Premier Roger Cook yesterday slammed the bomb scare as “completely unacceptable”.
“This Australia Day should be about unity, not division. That a peaceful protest was targeted in this fashion runs against the very heart of what it means to be Australian,” Cook said.
“We can’t let hate win.”
The suspended rally was eventually able to resume, where protesters marched through the streets calling for justice for First Nations peoples.
But organisers and attendees, like Tanesha Bennell, said they felt “angry and frustrated” that the event was impacted by the threat.
“Not surprised though, this is very standard. I feel sad that once again our Elders are being silenced,” Bennell said.
“They were grabbing Elders, Aunties and Uncles, taking them away from their place to speak,” another attendee claimed.
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