A Perth rally to mark the death of 14-year-old Elijah Doughty might have been peaceful but there was anger among West Australian indigenous people who view the death as the latest example of racist and sometimes vigilante treatment.
A 55-year-old man, who can't be named, has been charged with unlawfully killing Elijah by hitting him with his ute while the teen rode a motorbike and leaving him to die on Monday.
Local indigenous people, who want the man charged with murder, rallied in Kalgoorlie the next day, leading to violence in which police were injured, windows on police cars, the courthouse and shops were smashed and alcohol and cigarettes stolen.
At least seven people have been charged with more expected.
Thursday's rally in Perth that dozens attended, many of them Aboriginal, was peaceful and involved the significant ritual of a smoking ceremony that police participated in.
Relatives of Elijah travelled 600km across from Kalgoorlie.
His aunty, Leanne Champion-Tucker, herself lost her daugher Blanche Ursula Smith, 25, when she was hit and killed by a utility that drove off in the main street of Kalgoorlie in the early hours of September 28, 2007.
No one was ever charged or handed themselves in, Ms Champion-Tucker said, and the police had not handled her daughter's death professionally and should have done something about it.
African-American inspired banners reading "Black Lives Matter" were carried at the rally as speakers recalled the abuse and murder of Aborigines going back to WA's settlement in 1829 and the poverty of many in Kalgoorlie.
There was anger but also messages of racial harmony and reconciliation.
One speaker Donna Schulz, another aunty of Elijah's, told the crowd her nephew had been run down in bushland "like it was nothing".
"He wasn't accidentally clipped somewhere at a busy intersection," she said.
Police say the motorbike Elijah was riding had been stolen, possibly by the owner of the ute that allegedly hit him.
It follows what has been described as vigilante payback in which people violently recover stolen motorbikes around Kalgoorlie.
Elijah himself, who was remembered fondly as a talented footballer who was due to play in a grand final his weekend, had had motorbikes stolen from him in the past, say relatives.
Police were investigating the allegations of a vigilante culture and links to Facebook groups that discuss crime problems in Kalgoorlie, naming and shaming, and violent and racist language.
That might result in criminal charges, said Police Minister Liza Harvey who was in Kalgoorlie with Attorney-General Michael Mischin on Thursday.
Mr Mischin has slammed "the lynch mob" attempt at justice in Kalgoorlie on Tuesday as inexcusable.
