TV crew attacked in Alice Springs

9 Feb 2012, 5:29 pm   -   Source: AAP
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A television crew has been attacked in Alice Springs by two apparently drunk women who then set upon staff at a hotel to which the group retreated.

A television crew filming for the ABC in Alice Springs have been attacked by two women who set upon staff at the hotel to which the group retreated.

The crew were getting footage at about 6.30pm (CST) on Wednesday for a documentary to be titled Dumb, Drunk and Racist, which had been commissioned by ABC2.

The managing director of production company Cordell Jigsaw, Nick Murray, said there were five on-screen staff and five camera operators working when two women, who appeared to be very drunk, approached the crew.

"They got very upset and attacked the crew with rocks and got very aggressive," Mr Murray said.

"They broke some of our camera gear and the crew ran back to their hotel.

"Two of these people came and smashed up part of the foyer of the hotel."

Mr Murray denied earlier reports that the crew were taking footage of the Todd River, a place where some Aboriginals often gather to drink, when the incident took place.

Sydney-based journalist Joe Hildebrand, who was being filmed when the incident began, told AAP the women were not in the shot and he had no idea why they were angry.

Hildebrand said one of the crew stopped a woman about a metre away from him from attacking his group with a rock the size of a mango.

The general manager of the Aurora Hotel, Ron Thynne, told the ABC one of his staff probably saved the life of a cameraman by dragging him away to the back office.

None of the film crew was injured during the incident.

The documentary being made involves four Indian people taken around Australia to investigate the stereotype in the Subcontinent that Australians are drunk, dumb and racist.

Police are investigating the incident.

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