SYDNEY, Australia (WJC) –More than a dozen people were being held hostage on Monday by a gunman who forced them to display a flag of the Islamic State in the window. The building in which the café is located also contains government offices.
Armed officers surrounded the Lindt Chocolat Café in Martin Place in Sydney’s Central Business District, where staff and customers were forced to hold what appeared to be a black Islamic flag against the window. TV footage showed two men running towards a group of police around what appeared to be a fire escape door. In a separate shot another man, wearing a brown apron, was seen running out through the door.
Police closed roads in the area and also stopped some trains from running after the alert was raised at about 9.45am on Monday local time. The newsroom at broadcaster Channel7, which is about 30 meters away, was evacuated.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said it was unclear if the siege was politically motivated. “We don’t yet know if this is politically motivated, although there are some indications that it might be,” Abbott told reporters in Canberra. “This is a very disturbing incident. I can understand the concerns and anxieties of the Australia people,” Abbott said.
The gunman reportedly demanded to speak to Abbot over the phone.
In response to the incident, Australia’s Jewish community placed its educational and cultural institutions under lockdown. According to the ‘Australian Jewish News’, trips here canceled and tighter security measures put in place. The Community Security Group, which is the local Jewish community’s branch in charge of security and emergency management, instructed residents to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious activity or objects.
Earlier on Monday, police arrested a 25-year-old man in Sydney as part of operations to disrupt the flow of money and fighters to conflict zones such as those in Iraq and Syria.
Australia is on high alert for attacks by radical Muslims or by home-grown militants returning from fighting in the Middle East, having raised its threat level to high and undertaken a series of high-profile raids in major cities. In September, Australian anti-terrorism police thwarted an imminent threat to behead a random member of the public and days later, a teenager in Melbourne was shot dead after attacking two anti-terrorism officers with a knife.
Abbott said that at least 70 Australians were fighting in Iraq and Syria backed by about 100 Australia-based “facilitators”.
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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress