Sydney hostages flee Martin Place cafe siege in city centre | Australia news | The GuardianSydney hostages flee Martin Place cafe siege in city centre | Australia news | The Guardian










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Sydney



Sydney hostages flee Martin Place cafe siege in city centre









It is not known whether the hostages were released or escaped a gunman believed to be holding an unknown number of people in a Lindt cafe• Follow rolling coverage of the siege
























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Several people have been seen fleeing the scene of a hostage crisis at a cafe in the centre of Sydney.



Michael Safi






@safimichael





Monday 15 December 2014 01.06 EST







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Five people have emerged from a cafe in the heart of Sydney where at least one armed gunman took customers and staff hostage on Monday morning but it remains unclear whether they escaped or were freed.
The number of hostages remaining inside the Lindt cafe in Sydney’s Martin Place is uncertain and estimates have varied wildly, but the New South Wales deputy police commissioner Catherine Burn said the figure was “not as high as 30”.
Dramatic footage showed two men flee through the front door of the cafe followed by a heavily armed police officer. A third man, dressed in a Lindt uniform, left through a side door.
Two women, both Lindt employees, were seen fleeing the building about 30 minutes later. Footage showed the terrified pair slipping from the doors of the cafe one at a time and sprinting towards a group of waiting police.
“The information I have is that nobody has been harmed or injured at this moment,” Burn said.
She confirmed that there was “at least one” offender involved and that police negotiators had made contact with the man.



A gunman carrying a blue sports bag reportedly entered the cafe about 9.45am on Monday and a hostage situation quickly developed, with heavily armed police surrounding the cafe and closing off the streets of the central area of Australia’s biggest city.
Chilling early images showed some hostages apparently forced to hold a black and white flag against the window bearing the Islamic creed, raising fears that a terrorist attack was under way. Other terrified hostages inside the cafe could be seen with their hands pressed against the glass.
Police evacuated offices in the immediate vicinity of the cafe and directed workers in nearby buildings to remain indoors and away from open windows. Panic spread when a man in the area was arrested by police, but the incident was unrelated.
Staff and tourists around Sydney Opera House were also reported to have been evacuated after a suspicious package was spotted. Helicopters were seen hovering above the tourist attraction throughout the day.



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Armed police on patrol.
Photograph: Joosep Martinson/Getty Images


The black flag in the window of the cafe appeared to bear the Shahada, an Islamic affirmation of the oneness of God, reading: “There is no god but the God, Muhammad is the messenger of God.”
The creed is common in the Islamic world and appears on the Saudi Arabian flag, but has been embraced by Islamist groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra and Hizb ut-Tahrir.
One Lindt employee, Nathan Grivas, arrived for work just after the siege began and found the glass sliding door of the cafe disabled.
“It was already locked,” he said. “I didn’t get a good look at them, as soon as I saw the gun all I wanted to do was get out.”
The New South Wales police commissioner, Andrew Scipione, said law enforcement was “on a footing consistent with a terrorist act” but there was no evidence the siege was connected to an arrest on Monday morning of a 25-year-old Sydney man for alleged terrorism financing. 
He would not confirm claims by a Sydney radio personality, Ray Hadley, that his station had been called by one or more of the hostages inside the cafe. A number of other news outlets also claimed to have received similar calls.
“We are being tested today in Sydney,” the NSW premier, Mike Baird, said “The police are being tested; the public is being tested, but whatever the test, we will face it head on. We will remain a strong, democratic, civil society.”



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Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott delivers a statement at Parliament House.
Photograph: Xu Haijing/Xinhua Press/Corbis


Tony Abbott made a short statement, urging Australians to be resolute. “We don’t yet know the motivation of the perpetrator, we don’t know whether this is politically motivated although obviously there are some indications that it could be,” the prime minister said.
“We have to appreciate that even in a society such as ours, there are people who would wish to do us harm, that’s why we have police and security organisations of the utmost professionalism that are ready and able to respond to a whole range of situations and contingencies including this situation that we are now seeing in Sydney.”
Abbott would not be drawn on the details of the siege, including how many hostages were being held, instead referring queries to NSW police, who are leading the operation.
“The whole point of politically motivated violence is to scare people out of being themselves. Australia is a peaceful, open, and generous society. Nothing should ever change that and that’s why I would urge all Australians today to go about their business as usual.”
Abbott confirmed in a carefully worded statement that the national security committee had been briefed on the siege. It is understood to have met again on Monday afternoon.
Australia’s grand mufti, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammad, said he was “devastated” by the news of the standoff.
“The grand mufti and the Australian National Imam Council condemn this criminal act unequivocally and reiterate that such actions are denounced in part and in whole in Islam,” he said.
“We, along with the wide Australian society, await the results of the investigation about the identity of the perpetrators and their underlying motivations behind this criminal act.”
Religious leaders organised prayer vigils at mosques, churches and synagogues around Australia as the siege entered its eleventh hour without resolution.
An exclusion zone around Martin Place is expected to remain in place on Tuesday.



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Sydney




Australian security and counter-terrorism




New South Wales




Australian police and policing








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Sydney siege: Australian PM Tony Abbott warns of rise in 'terrorist chatter' - video

Australian prime minister Tony Abbott warns of a rise in 'terrorist chatter' in the aftermath of the cafe siege in Sydney



Published: 23 Dec 2014




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Sydney siege victims Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson mourned at memorial services

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Published: 22 Dec 2014




Sydney siege victims Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson mourned at memorial services












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Flowers will be mulched and used in a memorial to be established in consultation with the families of the victims of the Lindt cafe attack in Martin Place



Published: 22 Dec 2014




Sydney siege floral tributes to be removed before wet weather hits city












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On guns, David Leyonhjelm is neither a champion nor a villain. He's a libertarian

Eleanor Robertson




Published: 18 Dec 2014







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