Ugly scenes erupt at State Parliament

UPDATE: Ugly scenes have erupted at State Parliament after police clashed with demonstrators protesting against the closure of Aboriginal communities across WA.

One man was arrested, others were hit with warnings and a police officer was knocked to the ground as tempers flared when about 200 protesters marched on Parliament House this afternoon.

The spark came when police attempted to move-on Aboriginal leader Herbert Bropho, who had shortly before addressed the crowd to denounce the Barnett Government's decision to close dozens of remote communities across the State.

A friend of Mr Bropho's and fellow speaker at the rally, Mervyn Eades, confronted the police and pushed an officer before being arrested and taken to a police van.

The incident prompted ugly scenes as protesters remonstrated with police and accused officers of inflaming tensions.

Earlier, the crowd had marched from Forrest Place in the city to Parliament in a bid to hand over a petition seeking to overturn the community closure decision.

Aboriginal activist Marianne Mackay said while the focus of the protest was aimed at the move to close the communities, she was also deeply unhappy about the Government's handling of other indigenous issues.

Among them was the closure of a camp that had been set up on Heirisson Island on the Swan River – a move she said was illegal – and an imminent native title settlement for the South West.

"We want them to pull back on their decisions and, when they're talking about funding, we want a Parliamentary inquiry," Ms Mackay said.

"There is no area that is not going to be targeted – it's right across the State.

"We're trying to stop them."

Ms Mackay also criticised the actions of the police at today's protest, saying their decision to issue Mr Bropho was a move-on notice had been inflammatory and unnecessary.

"That's what the police do – they wanted an arrest," she said.

"This is what they do to us all the time.

"We're never violent so I don't know why they do this all the time."