Residents in Alice Springs will be subjected to another curfew after a series of violent assaults, a brawl involving 80 people and a knife attack.
Northern Territory police issued a three-night public social disorder declaration on Monday for parts of the city from 10pm to 6am.
The chief minister, Eva Lawler, said the curfew would act as a “pressure-relief valve” and improve community safety.
“I love Alice Springs but the offending and behaviour we have seen over the last 96 hours will not be tolerated,” she told reporters.
“The curfew will provide police extra powers to get on top of the situation.”
Commissioner Michael Murphy said a series of crimes across the weekend had contributed to the decision to impose the curfew.
“The intent of this declaration is to disrupt the behaviours associated with the harm we’re seeing in Alice Springs,” he said.
“It applies to all classes of people – it will apply to adults and it will apply to youths.”
The curfew will be imposed on the town centre between Anzac Hill, the Alice Springs hospital, the Stuart Highway and Leichhardt Terrace, which runs along the Todd River.
“Anyone coming into the zone can be engaged by police and they can be asked to leave or alternatively they can be asked to stay, if there is another disturbance, for their own safety,” Murphy said.
“A failure to abide in a request by police can lead to an offence and it can lead to an infringement notice or an arrest.”
People with legitimate business in the area, such as work or attending an event, and those seeking safety or medical treatment will be permitted to enter the zone.
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It comes as Naidoc week celebrations kick off in the town of about 25,000, attracting about 5,000 visitors from across the NT, Western Australia and South Australia.
Murphy said police would not disturb the annual event and the curfew would help keep those celebrating it safe.
“I’m very aware it’s a really important week for the Territory and Australia,” he said.
The emergency declaration has been made using new laws passed by the territory parliament in May that let the police commissioner impose a three-day curfew that can be extended to seven days if the police minister approves.
Swinburne criminology expert Joel McGregor said the territory’s ongoing crime issues required long-term behaviour change, not short interventions.
“While the NT curfew may be stopping crimes being perpetuated during the evening, it should not be thought of as a solution to the problems the [territory] is facing,” he said.
The curfew for all people follows a three-week curfew banning anyone under 18 from the town’s centre between 6pm and 6am following a series of brawls in March.