'Shame on you': united call for death-in-custody action

The sound of a passing tram is all that breaks the silence as hundreds of people gather outside parliament, standing together in unity to honour a young Aboriginal man who died in police custody.

Relatives, friends and allies shut down Melbourne's Spring Street in a powerful vigil on Friday, part of a national week of action demanding justice for 24-year-old Kumanjayi White and an end to Indigenous deaths in custody.

Mr White, who had a mental disability, died on May 27 shortly after being forcibly restrained by two plain-clothes police officers inside a supermarket in Alice Springs.

Police allege the 24-year-old, originally from the outback community of Yuendumu, was shoplifting and had assaulted a security guard who confronted him in the confectionery aisle.

Speaking at the rally on Friday, Mr White's grandfather, Warlpiri Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, said his grandson was "killed for no good reason".

"What have we done to you? We are supposed to be working together in harmony but (police) are taking away our lives," he said.

"That is not good. (He) was only getting a packet of lollies. Shame on you.

"He was not a criminal. He was a quiet, young man."

The rally was also attended by Krautungalung Elder Uncle Robbie Thorpe, senator Lidia Thorpe and Aunty Donna Kerr, the mother of Joshua Kerr.

Ms Kerr spoke of the urgent need for justice, recalling how her son, an Indigenous man, was found unconscious in his prison cell and later died in August 2022.

About 300 people attended the vigil, holding signs that read "Who is the real thief?" and "Genocide in progress".

Senator Thorpe vowed to support the family's call for an independent investigation into police.

"We are here to call for the footage that was taken of that murder in the supermarket," she told the large crowd.

"The family want to see the footage ... so they can see what really happened."

NT Police on Friday confirmed officers have not been stood down.

The force and NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro have strongly rejected calls for an external investigation, saying police are the right authority to carry it out, coupled with a coronial inquiry.

Mr White's family expressed anger over the rejection of calls for an independent investigation, backing the Central Land Council's demand for Canberra to withhold funding from the NT government until it agrees to establish an independent body to examine police misconduct.

NT Police has said its investigation would abide by strict protocols with full transparency and be independently reviewed by the coroner.

"We ask the community to allow the investigation to take its course," Acting Commissioner Martin Dole said in a statement.

"We are committed to a full and fair examination of the facts."

Federal Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy has said an independent death in custody probe might be warranted "in the interest of having some separation".

The Yuendumu community also lost 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker in 2019 when he was fatally shot by then NT police officer Zachary Rolfe during a bungled arrest.

Mr Rolfe was found not guilty of all charges over the death in 2022.

The Kumanjayi Walker coronial findings have been postponed until July 7 after Kumanjayi White's death in custody.

Rallies to protest Mr White's death in custody and urge an independent inquiry were planned for Melbourne, Alice Springs and Cairns on Friday and Sydney, Brisbane, Wollongong and Adelaide on Saturday.

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