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Siege in central Sydney chocolate shop, hostages forced to hold up Islamic black flag

Arwon

Arwon

stop being water
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Mostly just Twitter sources at this stage. Seige in central Sydney at Martin Place, the area including Channel 7 studios has been evacuated.

There appear to be hostages in human shield positions at the window of the Lindt chocolate shop holding a flag up. The flag isn't ISIL as was initially being reported, it's seemingly the Shahada, a more generic flag with the Islamic creed in Arabic on it.

Guardian live updates
 
Man, I was going to write a really snarky post, because initially thought it was a joke. Turns out, it's not.

Hope this will resolved without any casualties.
 
For those who don't know Sydney, the target being a chocolate shop is slightly odd, but it's diagonally opposite Channel 7 Studios where they broadcast their news from. If you were after publicity it would make sense as a location.
 
So “There is no god but the God, Muhammad is the messenger of God” and these people think God needs them to make hostages of kids in a chocolate shop in order to spread his message? I would think God has a higher message than that. :(
 
Arwon said:
For those who don't know Sydney, the target being a chocolate shop is slightly odd, but it's diagonally opposite Channel 7 Studios where they broadcast their news from. If you were after publicity it would make sense as a location.
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The office of Mike Baird, the Premier of NSW - think Governor, for our American forumers - is above the Seven News offices. That may also have influenced the choice of location.

The news I am hearing from my wife is that this is the result of a failed police operation; they arrested someon in Western Sydney this morning over an alleged plot to publicly behead someone in Martin Place - where the cafe is - and this seems to have precipitated their accomplices to launch the operation, possibly prematurely.

The Sydney Opera House and Sydney Airport are also being locked down, but police aren't yet confirming if it is simply precautionary or due to situations there as well.
 
For those wondering, here is a link to the arrest made this morning. Apparently a press conference at 11am was cancelled due to the current situation. At that press conference some of the information I mentioned in my original post would have been released.

That arrest was linked to a previous raid by police in the same suburb in September. Here is a link to that story. The consensus about those raids was that they were heavy-handed and politically motivated for the most part - all but one of those detained were released without charge, with a man from Beecroft being the sole exception - but there may have been more to them than was let on. My gut, and my wife - who is a former journalist, if people are wondering why I have a few tidbits that aren't being reported yet - is that the original terror raids in September were botched, targeting the wrong people. I could be wrong.
 
Arwon said:
ABC News 24 appears to have had its geoblock lifted if anyone wants to watch coverage.

I just hope this ends peacefully and this country doesn't go off the deep end in response.
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This country WILL go off the deep end in response. I can practically guarantee it. We are a xenophobic and reactionary lot at the best of times, and this is hardly the best of times. We are about to see an even greater shift to the right on all issues, and Abbott may get enough support in the swing to call a double-dissolution election. It will certainly bring the Coalition's leadership issues to a head; either Bishop will oust Abbott in the next three weeks, or the Coalition will form ranks behind him.
 
There's a lot of unconfirmed rubbish circulating now. Ray Hadley is apparently pretty much making stuff up as he goes.

Any revenge violence happens, he should be charged with incitement.
 
Arwon said:
There's a lot of unconfirmed rubbish circulating now. Ray Hadley is apparently pretty much making stuff up as he goes.

Any revenge violence happens, he should be charged with incitement.
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Agreed. Hadley has claimed that there are concurrent terror raids taking place in Lakemba, a majority-Islamic suburb in Sydney. There are none. There are 20 police officers attending a Lakemba mosque as part of a pre-arranged meet-and-greet day. Hadley is a well-known idiot. He's also claimed that the hostage-taker called his show wanting to talk to Tony Abbott.
 
Arwon said:
There's a lot of unconfirmed rubbish circulating now. Ray Hadley is apparently pretty much making stuff up as he goes.

Any revenge violence happens, he should be charged with incitement.
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Is Ray Hadley a news commentator or a government official?

EDIT: Never mind. I just saw Mr. Stuart's post just above mine.
 
I agree that this is going to send Australia off the deep-end, unfortunately.

Without wanting to be overly presumptuous, I would hazard the government's campaign of alienation has hardly militated against some sort of attack by an angry young man.

Gary Childress said:
Is Ray Hadley a news commentator or a government official?

EDIT: Never mind. I just saw Mr. Stuart's post just above mine.
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He's Rush Limbaugh.
 
Camikaze said:
I agree that this is going to send Australia off the deep-end, unfortunately.

Without wanting to be overly presumptuous, I would hazard the government's campaign of alienation has hardly militated against some sort of attack by an angry young man.



He's Rush Limbaugh.
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Ugh. If Australia has anything like a Faux News outlet then they will be going off the deep end. Many Americans seriously need to stop listening to Fox News. Retribution for 911 has gotten us nowhere. Better to forgive and forget I guess. :(
 
Camikaze said:
I agree that this is going to send Australia off the deep-end, unfortunately.

Without wanting to be overly presumptuous, I would hazard the government's campaign of alienation has hardly militated against some sort of attack by an angry young man.



He's Rush Limbaugh.
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I have been predicting for most of this year that the campaign against Muslims would lead to an attack on Australian soil, and even have a sneaking suspicion that Tony Abbott and co. desired one; after all, it is easier to unite the country against an Other than it is to ask them to fall in to line with policies such as making university fees cost $100,000 and charging the poor $5 to see the doctor, while giving $50,000 to wealthy women to have babies and take a year off work.

The description of Ray Hadley as Rush Limbaugh is a very apt one. He is one of our most dangerous nutters'political commentators.'
 
And the profiteering begins. Uber is charging people $100 to leave the Sydney CBD. Given that Uber is already facing legal and public opinion dramas in Australia, I think they may be about to face a massive backlash.
 
Oda Nobunaga said:
I know the feeling :(
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I must have missed all that stuff then. Other than a more solemn Remembrance Day, I'm not sure what else the shooting did.

James Stuart said:
And the profiteering begins. Uber is charging people $100 to leave the Sydney CBD. Given that Uber is already facing legal and public opinion dramas in Australia, I think they may be about to face a massive backlash.
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Does their management not think about public perceptions of their company? Like, at all? It never occurred to them jacking up prices in a crisis situation was a bad idea?
 
The number of hostages isn't particularly clear at the moment. The ABC seems to be reporting 'up to 13', but other news organisations are inflating that to something more like 50.
 
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