The violence happened amid rumours the police had chased 17-year-old local boy Thomas Hickey to his death - an allegation the police strongly deny.

The Boy from the Block Thursday, 8 July, 2004 2100 BST on BBC Two (UK)

In what became running battles against local law enforcement, cars were smashed, the railway station was set on fire and more than 40 police officers were injured.

While the rest of the nation was shocked by the images of the violence, many Redfern Aboriginals said that white Australia "had it coming."

Some of them told the BBC's This World programme they felt like second-class citizens in their own country and claimed the police discriminated against them.

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Bravo BBC for making such a documentary and highlighting a problem that I would otherwise not have known about Jorone Taylor-Lewis, Watford

I watched your programme tonight with great interest. It's time Aborigines conformed and contributed to the country like all the other residents as it is a marvellous country to live in.
Evelyn douglas, Antrim

In tonight's documentary I was a bit suprised that no one asked the Aborigines what they want and how they saw themselves getting anywhere, but maybe that wasn't the real purpose of the programme. I think education is a key issue and the mother's efforts to ensure her children go to school and learn were encouraging. Let's hope.
Andrew Leicester, UK

I have just seen this programme and I thought it was superb. I am an Australian on a working holiday, and although I'm from Perth, I was in Sydney at the time the Block riot occurred. If the documentary had any weakness, it was a failure to highlight the specific shortcomings of our current government.
Zac Gillam, Leeds

Bravo BBC for making such a documentary and highlighting a problem that I would otherwise not have known about, or understood the magnitude of. Studying in the United States for two years has given me some insight into the problems that the African American & Native American communities face there. This is another case of an ethnic minority group being forced into and later disenfranchised by an incoming foreign European society. I say again, bravo!
Jorone Taylor-Lewis, Watford

A very thought-provoking and well put together documentary Dermot Rathbone, Hull

Can we not focus our energy on involving the people that matter most in formulating solutions - Aboriginal elders, young people and white Australians? We are all involved and should be looking to create a better future together.
Renee Watson, Australia

I am moved and impressed by what I have just watched. The core of the Aboriginal pain, dilemma and despair resonates within all marginalised people. I only wish that my relatives in Australia could see the programme as they are deliberately blind to what is going on in their adopted country. Congrats to the production team.
Maureen Carroll, Belfast

A very thought-provoking and well put together documentary from the "This World" team. David got to the crux of issues facing Aboriginal Australians without being sentimental or patronising.
Dermot Rathbone, Hull

As I was born in Australia I watched the programme and I found it to be one-sided. The government gives the Aboriginal people everything. They only have to ask and they get. The white Australian has to work for everything they get.
Geoff Davies, Bristol

It is not a matter of integration, but acceptance and tolerance towards a culture that is different to the mainstream.
Evian Fernandez Garcia, The Netherlands

It seems like the people of Redfern are blaming everything and everyone around them without admitting that the boy was wrong in the first place Gary, London

What a very good programme. I have always felt very sorry for the Aboriginal people who seem to have been treated very badly by the white man. It was their country originally after all.
Alan Bailey,Surrey

Being an Australian citizen, currently working in the UK, I felt the documentary screened this evening fully portrays the state of Aboriginal affairs in 21st century Australia. For so many years now, there has been legislation, funding and task forces thrown at the indigenous population time after time to combat the amount of crime, drug use and poverty in their communities... to no avail. The problem is on both sides.
Safiya, Stockton

Let's look at the facts and forget race for a second. There was a warrant out for the boy's arrest, he had drugs on him and was on the run from the police. He fell off his bike onto some railings and died because he was trying to get away. It seems like the people of Redfern are blaming everything and everyone around them without admitting that the boy was wrong in the first place.
Gary, London

As an Australian citizen I was very interested to see how Australia would be portrayed in your story about TJ and the Redfern riots. I really enjoyed watching your programme and felt that it accurately presented the issues and did not make any judgements. The pictures you showed of the riots were actually the first I had seen as I am not able to hear much about Australia from England. I thank you for your unbiased reporting.
M Greening, Surrey

While the Western world complains about Mugabe's treatment of a few white farmers, we are simply ignoring the plight of the Aborigines Dr Kwame Osei, Nottingham

The indigenous peoples of Australia have left us the oldest signs of the creative human spirit outside Africa. Despite this they did not even have the vote in Australia until 1967. Until the legal ownership of Australian lands are returned to their original owners, places like the Block will fester all over Australia.
Tim Rochford, New Zealand

Undoubtedly wrongs were committed by European settlers, but current problems exist primarily because of a poverty cycle that exists in the Aboriginal community itself. As such, only the indigenous community can start to tackle its problems, albeit with assistance from government.
Simon Cotton, London

I think what is happening in Australia to the original settlers is totally unacceptable and disgusting. While the Western world complains about Mugabe's treatment of a few white farmers, we are simply ignoring the plight of the Aborigines.
Dr Kwame Osei, Nottingham

The Aboriginals are given every chance to integrate and get given money that white Australians do not get Ian Chamberlain, London

Australia should do everything in its power to integrate the native people into its own society. Enough people from other countries are emigrating there.
Sean Mooney, Manchester

The Aboriginals are given every chance to integrate and get given money that white Australians do not get.
Ian Chamberlain, London

When it comes to race relations I am ashamed to be an Australian. There are too many white Australians who base their view of other cultures on the stereotypes they learn from previous generations - a country that had the White Australia policy until the 1970s. It will take generations to change attitudes. A beautiful place but too many bigots and narrow-minded people.
Damien, St Albans

It's not the Aboriginals that should have to integrate. It's the Europeans who should have to adapt to indigenous Australia!
Maureen Gallagher, Canada

The world should know how badly these people are treated Lorraine Allen, Australia

I was disappointed and irritated after reading your article; a superficial account of the plight of the Australian Aboriginal that grossly failed to communicate the complexity of the situation. As an Australian, I feel angry that an Englishman feels justified indicting white Australia for problems initiated by English invasion. This situation requires compassion and understanding of a displaced culture struggling to find a footing in new Australia. It is by no means impossible - merely a lengthy and sensitive process.
Dr Amy Warren, USA

I was pleased to read David Akinsanya's article regarding the Sydney boy. I work for the Aboriginal Legal Service in Western Australia and at present there are curfews for Aboriginal youths in some suburbs and communities - set up to keep them away from the mainstream population. The world should know how badly these people are treated.
Lorraine Allen, Australia