[ 2014-12-16 ]

A woman is carried by police rescuers, apparently unable to walk unaided Jason Reed/Reuters

Sydney siege ends with gunfire and explosions as police storm café
An armed siege in Sydney’s central financial
district came to a violent conclusion in the early
hours of Tuesday morning amid explosions and an
intense burst of gunfire.
Police have confirmed that three people were
killed. One was the gunman and the other two were
hostages, a 38-year-old woman and a man aged 34. A
further four people were said to have been
seriously injured. No explosives were found in the
cafe.
Self-styled Islamist cleric Man Haron Monis, 49,
held hostage a total of 17 staff and customers of
the Lindt Chocolat Café hostage for more than 16
hours after walking in with a pump-action shotgun
during the morning rush hour.
He told police he had planted bombs inside the
café and in the surrounding area, and forced
hostages to hold up an Islamic flag at the windows
for up to two hours at a time.
As night fell the apparent lone-wolf attacker
obliged his hostages to record videos pleading for
his demands – for an Isis flag and a live phone
call with the Australian prime minister – to be
met.
A loud explosion from inside the café heralded
the moment that the siege came to an end at around
0210 local time.
Five terrified hostages fled out of the front door
of the café as two more bangs rang out, followed
by a bout of automatic gunfire lasting around 20
seconds coming from at least two different
directions.
Armed police burst open the rear door to the
building and threw in flash-bang grenades, as more
hostages were helped away.
One weeping woman was supported by a police
officer in a flak jacket, stooping as they ran
past the officers who were storming the building.
Five people were reported to have been carried
from the scene on stretchers.
Bomb disposal experts and paramedics approached
the café and a bomb disposal robot was sent
inside. Paramedics were reported to have given CPR
to two injured hostages.
“Sydney siege is over. More details to
follow,” New South Wales police announced on
Twitter at 0245. Unconfirmed reports suggested
that the hostage-taker himself had unexpectedly
precipitated the violent end to the drama, as
police were settling in for a long haul.
The end came around an hour after the identity of
the gunman began to be widely circulated.
Monis was said to be an Iranian refugee who
arrived in Australia in 1996 and gained notoriety
in 2009 when he was convicted of writing letters
to the parents and spouses of Australian
servicepeople who died in Afghanistan, describing
them as “pigs” and “contaminated”.
Monis is currently on bail on a charge of being an
accessory to murder after his former wife was
stabbed and set on fire in April 2013.
In March this year he was arrested on separate
charges, of sexually assaulting a young woman who
answered his newspaper ad offering his services as
an astrologer, numerologist and black magician in
2002.
He has carried out various public stunts, several
times chaining himself up outside court houses to
protest his innocence. He claims he is persecuted
by the Australian security services, likening
himself to Julian Assange and protesting that he
has been barred from seeing his children.
Hundreds of police cordoned off the heart of
Sydney’s financial district once the siege
began. Workers were evacuated from the Reserve
Bank of Australia and from the offices of Tim
Baird, the New South Wales state premier, and from
many other offices which share the same central
square as the Lindt café.
Police indicated their willingness to sit the
siege out, sending in food through the back door
of the café and confirming that expert siege
negotiators were in contact with the
hostage-taker.
Five hostages managed to escape in two small
groups as the siege entered its sixth hour, among
them café worker Elly Chen, and commercial
litigator Stefan Balafoutis, who ran to the safety
of waiting police with his hands up.
Witnesses in the Channel 7 newsroom directly
opposite the café reported seeing Monis, bearded
and wearing an Islamic headband, apparently
shouting angrily at the remaining 15 hostages as
the five got away.
Australia has been on alert for domestic attacks
by Islamic State sympathisers since the government
decided in September to send 12 warplanes to take
part in attacks on Isis forces in Syria. The
country’s threat level was recently raised to
high.
Tony Abbott has said that at least 70 Australians
are fighting with Isis in Iraq and Syria, backed
by about 100 “facilitators” based in
Australia.
Today he spoke on live television twice during the
siege, praising the police and saying that his
heart went out to the hostages caught up in the
“terrifying” situation.
Other world leaders including Barack Obama and
David Cameron were said to be being briefed on the
unfolding situation.
More than 40 Islamic organisations including the
Australian Federation Islamic Council, issued a
joint statement which said: “The Australian
Muslim community shares with fellow Sydneysiders
their utter shock and horror at the unprecedented
scenes emerging from the Lindt café. Our
immediate thoughts go to the hostages and their
loved ones.”
A campaign of solidarity with Australian Muslims
took off on social media, with hundreds of
thousands retweeting offers to travel to work with
a Muslim tomorrow using the hashtag
#illridewithyou.

Source - The Times(UK)

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