Chief Minister Eva Lawler has declared a youth curfew as part of an “emergency situation” for Alice Springs after a day of rioting in the troubled town, pledging to send more police officers to restore order over the next 14 days.

But she again rejected calling in federal authorities to assist the government take back control after rolling violence across the town that saw dozens armed with weapons and a pub’s windows smashed while patrons and staff hid inside.

Ms Lawler said the “scenes” in Alice on Tuesday were “horrific and unacceptable and we never want to see anything like that again”.

“I’m fed up with this appalling level of crime and antisocial behaviour, the community has had enough and so have I,” she said at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Ms Lawler said 58 additional police officers would be deployed to Alice Springs today from across the Territory, including the 33 police auxiliary liquor inspectors Police Minister Brent Potter removed from the community two weeks ago to undertake training in Darwin.

The curfew for youth under 18 will be in effect from 6pm and 6am and will stay in place over Easter and the upcoming school holidays, which will see any young person taken “home or to a safe place” and if there is no safe place, young people would be taken “somewhere else”, Ms Lawler said.

The curfew will be in effect for the Alice Springs CBD only.

The move to take action comes after Ms Lawler earlier today claimed the disturbance was only the result of two families fighting after a memorial for an 18-year-old who was killed in a stolen car crash earlier this month.

The “emergency situation” declaration made this afternoon followed calls from Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson for the Australian Defence Force or AFP to be deployed to the town to assist the government to restore order and to keep citizens safe following the rioting on Tuesday that also saw police and their vehicles pelted with rocks.

Mr Paterson said on Wednesday morning that the two incidents on Tuesday – including the pub smashing and up to 150 people wandering around with weapons following a brawl at Hidden Valley Town Camp – amounted to the “worst thing” he had ever seen in Alice Springs and had everyone terrified and “on edge”.

“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen, it’s not worse by a little bit. It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life, and it was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my life as well,” he told Mix 104.9.

“If it was anywhere else, they would have had boots on the ground in a matter of hours. We need resources. I said 12 months ago, I’ll say it again, we need resources on the ground. We need resources on the ground today.”

Ms Lawler initially dismissed taking any emergency action and said police had control of the situation. But by the afternoon, she ordered the youth curfew and the 58 additional officers would be deployed to Alice.

“Enough is enough. I’ve heard loudly and clearly from the people of Alice Springs,” she said on Wednesday afternoon.

“We want Alice Springs to be a safe place, we want people to enjoy the amenities that they have enjoyed in the past … we’re acting now to make sure that we put in place a curfew, but [also] send down 58 additional police officers.”

However, the violence erupted despite 23 officers from the so-called Territory Safety Division having been sent to the town last week from Darwin and despite bottle shops in the town being closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said the PALIs that were removed from bottle shops in Alice Springs two weeks ago would be sent back to the bottle shops “for at least 14 days”.

Mr Murphy said the police would be given “all the support we can get” through the “Territory Emergency Management Council, which does declare the emergency situation and gives us the lawful authority to look at the curfew”.

Mr Murphy said there would be 25 additional officers deployed, on top of the 33 PALIs who have had their training suspended, and played down suggestions the removal of scarce police officers from other areas would leave Tennant Creek, Katherine and Darwin exposed.

Mr Murphy also said that acting Department of Chief Minister and Cabinet chief executive Andrew Kirkman has been sent to Alice Springs.

“We’re working with stakeholders to basically put things in place to put Alice Springs into a place of safety,” he said. “Hearing the despair and some of the stories from Alice Springs residents, I’ve heard you loud and clear, I’ve heard my workforce loud and clear … and so you’ll see a real increase in tempo and visibility engagement to drive down the crimes associated with youth activity.”

Opposition, independent MLA say more needs to be done

Ms Lawler and the Labor Government have long rejected calls from independent Alice Springs MLA Robyn Lambley for a youth curfew.

Ms Lambley said the town was in “crisis” and said she found Ms Lawler’s sudden change of heart on a curfew “quite astounding”.

“The NT Labor Government’s hand-holding approach to these criminals has expired,” she said. “It never worked and will never work.

“All locals, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal have had enough of this despicable behaviour. We are all in the same boat, worried for our families and our futures.”

Ms Lambley reiterated that she also wanted to see the AFP or army brought in, the closing of all liquor outlets, including pubs and clubs during “high-risk periods”; urging people to stay at home or work during “high-risk periods”; and people in town from remote communities “without legitimate reasons” to be “pressured to go home”.

“Clearly the government had to try something different,” she said. “It is a great pity we had to come to the brink of complete disaster before commonsense and real action prevailed.”

The Opposition CLP said Ms Lawler had taken too long to respond to growing problems in Alice Springs and that more officers are needed past the 14 days.

They also questioned the effectiveness of the curfew without new legislation to give police more powers to deal with young offenders.

“We see day in day out, a game of cat and mouse where our police are caught up picking up young offenders and taking them home without consequences, all for the cycle to start again,” Bill Yan said.

“For a government that is running advertising that there are no quick fixes, they have just announced a bandaid.

“The ‘payback’ events we saw yesterday were a direct reflection on Labor’s relaxation of the youth justice act, which is seeing youth run riot, and ultimately saw the young man killed when his stolen car rolled over.”

The CLP has called for Ms Lawler to reconvene Parliament to pass emergency legislation to provide police with extra powers to get Alice Springs under control, but those calls were rejected by Ms Lawler, who said her government had the power to enact the curfew without needing any new legislation.