SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- An angry mob of Australian Aborigines burned a police station and court house Friday on a remote island that has been rocked by unrest since an indigenous man died in police custody, police said.
``We know that police accommodation, a police residence, the police station and court house have been destroyed by fire,'' said Queensland police spokeswoman Sergeant Kim McCoomb. She said no injuries were reported.
The violence erupted a week after 36-year-old Cameron Doomadgee was found dead in police custody on Palm Island, off the east coast of mainland Queensland state.
An autopsy showed Doomadgee had four broken ribs and died of a punctured lung.
Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said Doomadgee's injuries were a result of a scuffle with police when he was being taken from a prison van.
Queensland state's political leader, Premier Peter Beattie, appealed for calm.
``We are prepared to work with the community but the leaders of Palm Island have got to take charge and act responsibly to restore some order,'' he told reporters in the state capital, Brisbane.
Freelance cameraman Steve Hume, who was caught up in Friday's riot, said the violence erupted within minutes of a public meeting at which details of the autopsy were revealed.
``It just escalated so fast. In less than five minutes they went from calm to absolutely ballistic. I've never seen anything like it,'' he said.
Queensland state's Crime and Misconduct Commission is investigating Doomadgee's death.
Palm Island has had a troubled history, earning the dubious title of the most violent place on Earth outside a combat zone in the 1998 Guinness Book of Records, Australian Associated Press reported.
The island, which is home to about 2,300 Aborigines, has a history of high unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, and domestic violence.
Friday's riot followed unrest earlier this year by Aborigines in Sydney who pelted police with bottles and rocks after accusing a squad car of chasing a young Aborigine to his death. The victim fell off his bicycle and was impaled on a fence. Police denied causing his death.
Some 400,000 indigenous people make up Australia's 20 million population. Many live in squalid settlements on the edge of towns or in the desert Outback.