Beer riot

BRISBANE (Reuter) - Australian police yesterday searched homes in an isolated Aboriginal community for 150,000 cans of beer looted from a store on new year's eve by a mob of 500 armed with axes and guns.

Two policemen in the village of Kowanyama (population 1,500) about 1,800km (1,100 miles) north-west of Brisbane called for reinforcements after the mob attacked the store with axes, fired shots into the air and hauled the beer away. The local airport was closed yesterday to stop further alcohol supplies being flown in.