2026 Invasion Day protest bombing attempt

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2026 Invasion Day protest bombing attempt
Forrest Place in Perth.
LocationForrest Place, Perth, Australia
Date26 January 2026
c. 12:30
Attack type
Attempted bombing
WeaponsHomemade fragment bomb
Deaths0
Injured0
MotiveRacism and terrorism (alleged)
AccusedLiam Alexander Hall

On 26 January 2026 – officially Australia Day, but also known by Indigenous Australians as Invasion Day[a] – a homemade fragment bomb was thrown into a crowd gathering for an Invasion Day rally in Forrest Place in Perth, Western Australia. The bomb failed to detonate.

Liam Alexander Hall,[1] a 31-year-old man, was arrested shortly afterwards and charged with committing an unlawful act with intent to harm and making explosives under suspicious circumstances. On 5 February, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) charged Hall with one count of engaging in a terrorist attack in relation to the attempted bombing, which prosecutors will argue was motivated by racism and nationalism. The subsequent criminal charges of terrorism were the first in Western Australian history. It was also the first time in Australia that a terror charge has been laid as a result of an attack on Indigenous Australian people.

Incident

Forrest Chase shopping centre. The bomb was thrown from the first floor walkway overlooking Forrest Place.

At noon on 26 January 2026, an Invasion Day protest rally was held at Forrest Place, a pedestrianised square in the Perth central business district, attended by around 2,000–2,500 people.[2][3] About half an hour after the rally began, a man later identified as Liam Alexander Hall allegedly threw a homemade fragment bomb, consisting of a glass container the size of a coffee cup filled with chemicals, ball bearings and screws, and concealed in an Elsa-themed sock, from the first floor walkway at Forrest Chase shopping centre overlooking Forrest Place into the crowd. The improvised explosive landed amongst the crowd in front of the main stage but failed to explode.[2]

Writer Sisonke Msimang, who was attending the rally with a Noongar colleague, saw the device land and the man leaving the scene, and picked it up after it landed about 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) away and people started to move around it. She handed it to two police officers, who took the device but did not take her details.[3] About half an hour after the bomb was handed in, police began to evacuate the area.[4][3] However, attendees were confused due to alleged issues with communication from police, which led to delays in the area being fully evacuated. Hall was seen trying to flee the area and was arrested at the scene after being identified by witnesses. There were no reported casualties.[2][5][6][7]

Forrest Place was cordoned off for two hours after the incident. Despite the seriousness of the incident, police determined there was no longer an ongoing threat and Australia Day festivities held at nearby Langley Park continued as scheduled.[6]

Criminal proceedings

Liam Alexander Hall, a 31-year-old man who was alleged to have thrown the device, was arrested at the protest and police searched his Warwick home the same day. He appeared in court the following day, 27 January. He was charged with two counts of committing an unlawful act with intent to harm and making explosives under suspicious circumstances.[8] A court order had initially suppressed Hall's identity to the public for his and his family's safety.[1]

On 5 February, the AFP charged Hall with one count of engaging in a terrorist attack.[9] It had taken the Western Australia Police Force nine days to declare the event a terrorist attack.[10] Western Australian Police Commissioner Col Blanch said that, before charges could be laid, police needed to interview the suspect, analyse material on his electronic devices, and speak to his family and friends, before they could satisfy the threshold that classed the act as terrorism. University of Western Australia Indigenous Studies researcher and psychologist Pat Dudgeon said that the event was "very frightening", but she understood why it had taken so long to declare it as terrorism, saying:[11]

I understand that in order to get up a charge that has merit and will stand in court, you have to have appropriate evidence, but for many of us, from the outside looking in, it felt slow.

It was the first time in Australia that a terror charge had been laid as a result of an attack on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons.[12] Blanch said prosecutors will allege the attack was "nationalist and racially motivated".[1]

On 17 February, Hall's identity was revealed to the public after lawyers from both the Commonwealth and Western Australian police had argued that his identity should be revealed in the public interest.[1] The case returned to court on 31 March, after Hall's lawyer secured a six-week adjournment to assess his mental health treatment in custody.[1] Through his lawyer, Hall indicated that he may enter an insanity plea at his next hearing scheduled for late May.[13]

On 26 May, Hall appeared via video link from a psychiatric hospital, where the charges were read to him for the first time but he was not required to enter a plea. He was remanded in custody and his case was adjourned until 16 September.[14]

Reactions

Government

Western Australian premier Roger Cook said the incident had the potential to be a "mass casualty event".[15] Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said "this was an incident that is quite shocking. He's been charged with two serious offences and I look forward to him being prosecuted to the full force of the law."[8] Malarndirri McCarthy, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, said the incident had "narrowly avoided catastrophic disaster".[16]

Civil society and media

There was criticism by Indigenous and other Australians of the disparity in concern between the danger to the Jewish and Indigenous communities, when comparing the response between this event and the 2025 Bondi Beach shooting six weeks earlier,[17][18] including the length of time it took to declare the incident a terrorist attack.[19] On 28 January the Australian Human Rights Commission and Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss called for the attack to be given the same priority as the Bondi Beach attack.[20]

On 28 January, the Human Rights Law Centre called for the incident to be investigated as an act of terrorism or hate crime.[21] Friends of the Earth Australia (FoE) published a statement on their website saying that they were "deeply concerned that since the attack, both the media and several political leaders have downplayed the gravity of what could easily have been a mass casualty event", and backed Senator Lidia Thorpe's call for police to "do better in how they communicate with our people. FoE called on the federal government to "lead a comprehensive response... to tackle the rising racism and violence against First Peoples across the continent".[22] Lorena Allam wrote in The Guardian of the rise of neo-Nazis in Australia and the "stark difference in attention and empathy at the unsuccessful bombing at Boorloo [Perth]".[23]

The organisers of the Invasion Day rally published an open letter to Cook on 9 February 2026, calling on his government and the federal government to formally investigate the incident as a hate crime, and to "expand the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into anti-semitism to cover all forms of racism and far right extremism".[24]

Labelling as terrorism

It took nine days for the police to label the event a terrorist incident.[10][11][25] Police claimed it took nine days of investigation to determine whether the bombing of an Indigenous protest was an act of terrorism.[11] The delay was criticised by Indigenous leaders and others.[11][26]

Notes

  1. Most sources used Invasion Day when describing the attack.

References

  1. "Liam Alexander Hall revealed as man charged over alleged terrorism act at Perth Invasion Day rally". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 17 February 2026. Retrieved 18 February 2026.
  2. Mayes, Andrea; Ho, Cason (27 January 2026). "Video shows man throwing explosive device into Perth Invasion Day crowd". ABC News. Archived from the original on 4 February 2026. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  3. Bembridge, Courtney (18 February 2026). "Police accused of being slow to respond to alleged homemade bomb at Perth Invasion Day rally". ABC News. 7.30. Archived from the original on 18 February 2026. Retrieved 18 February 2026.
  4. Bourke, Keane (29 January 2026). "Why it took nearly half-an-hour for police to start evacuating Perth's Invasion Day rally". ABC News. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  5. Bourke, Keane; McArthur, Bridget (28 January 2026). "Perth Invasion Day bomb incident being investigated as 'potential terrorist act'". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 14 February 2026. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  6. Bourke, Keane; Ho, Cason; Waller, Pip (26 January 2026). "How a peaceful Invasion Day gathering in Perth turned to chaos". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 28 January 2026. Retrieved 29 January 2026.
  7. Boltje, Stephanie; Jash, Tahnee; Flanders, Kris (28 January 2026). "'Scared for our children': Stronger response urged on alleged rally attack". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 6 February 2026. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  8. Smith, Douglas (28 January 2026). "Police should 'throw the book' at man charged with Perth Invasion Day explosive device incident, Albanese says". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  9. Moore, Hannah (5 February 2026). "Man charged with terror offences after alleged bombing of Perth Invasion Day rally". News.com.au. Archived from the original on 5 February 2026. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  10. West, Levi (5 February 2026). "Why did it take 9 days to declare the Perth bombing attempt a terrorist attack?". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 6 February 2026. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  11. Medlen, Pamela (6 February 2026). "Why it took police nine days to declare the Invasion Day attempted bomb attack in Perth terrorism". ABC News. Archived from the original on 10 February 2026. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
  12. "Terrorist act declaration for Invasion Day attempted bombing shows WA has changed". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 6 February 2026. Retrieved 7 February 2026.
  13. "Liam Alexander Hall may enter insanity plea over alleged terrorism act at Perth Invasion Day rally". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 31 March 2026. Retrieved 31 March 2026.
  14. "Man accused of throwing bomb at Perth Invasion Day rally makes first court appearance". SBS News. SBS. 26 May 2026. Archived from the original on 27 May 2026. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  15. Hamblin, Andrea (5 February 2026). "Aboriginals targeted in 'terror attack' on Australia Day rally in Perth". The Daily Telegraph. Melbourne, via the United Kingdom. The device failed to detonate but had the potential to cause a "mass casualty event", said Roger Cook, the state premier.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  16. Bakan, Sezen (6 February 2026). "Silence on Invasion Day Perth Bombing Speaks Volumes". Junkee. Archived from the original on 4 February 2026. Retrieved 12 February 2026. Granted, the Perth attack resulted in no fatalities or injuries. But it was intended to. "We narrowly avoided catastrophic disaster", noted Malarndirri McCarthy, Minister for Indigenous Australians.
  17. Butler, Dan; Tan, Christopher (29 January 2026). "Indigenous communities are questioning the government's response to the Perth Invasion Day attack". NITV. Archived from the original on 9 February 2026. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
  18. Bakan, Sezen (6 February 2026). "Silence on Invasion Day Perth Bombing Speaks Volumes". Junkee. Archived from the original on 4 February 2026. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  19. "Why haven't police labelled Perth's Invasion Day rally incident terrorism? Here's what we know". RNZ. 29 January 2026. Archived from the original on 14 February 2026. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
  20. Branco, Jorge (28 January 2026). "Perth Invasion Day rally bomb scare declared 'potential terrorist act'". Nine News. Archived from the original on 29 January 2026. Retrieved 12 February 2026. Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss called for the "potential mass casualty event" to be treated with the same urgency and seriousness as the Bondi Beach terrorist attack in December.
  21. "Human Rights Law Centre calls for hate crime investigation into racist attack at Boorloo Invasion Day". Human Rights Law Centre. 28 January 2026. Archived from the original on 14 February 2026. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
  22. "Statement on terrorist bombing attempt at Boorloo Invasion Day rally". Friends of the Earth Australia. 1 August 2018. Archived from the original on 14 February 2026. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
  23. Allam, Lorena (6 February 2026). "Invasion Day is about Indigenous people's survival, our resilience. To strike at the heart of that is a hate crime". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 February 2026. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
  24. Bropho, Uncle Herbert; Hayward, Uncle Hedley; Moore, Roxanne; Yarran, Fabian (9 February 2026). "Organisers of Invasion Day rally urge WA Premier to pursue major reforms in wake of attack". National Indigenous Times. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
  25. "Invasion Day bomb declared terror act, as accused's 'pro-white ideology' probed". ABC News. 5 February 2026. Archived from the original on 12 May 2026. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
  26. Saeed, Daanyal (29 January 2026). "A homemade bomb was thrown into an Invasion Day rally. Mainstream media wouldn't call it terrorism". Crikey. Archived from the original on 7 February 2026. Retrieved 31 May 2026.

Further reading