Sydney siege ends as police storm Lindt Cafe and hostages run out | Australia news | The GuardianSydney siege ends as police storm Lindt Cafe and hostages run out | Australia news | The Guardian










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Sydney siege



Sydney siege ends as police storm Lindt Cafe and hostages run out









Gunshots heard as heavily armed police enter cafe about 17 hours after siege in city centre began 
• Follow continuing live coverage here • Analysis: Australia has been struck by the act of terror it feared • The world reacts: newspaper front pages • What is the significance of the Sydney siege flag?














Hostages run past a police officer near Lindt Cafe in central Sydney. Photograph: Jason Reed/Reuters




Helen Davidson and 
Peter Walker and 
Michael Safi


Monday 15 December 2014 17.14 EST







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Two hostages and a gunman are dead after a 17-hour armed siege in Sydney’s Martin Place ended with police storming the cafe.
Four people were also injured as the siege ended in a chaotic shootout in the early hours of Tuesday.
The New South Wales police commissioner, Andrew Scipione, confirmed a 34-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman, who were among the hostages, were shot and pronounced dead at hospital. The 50-year-old man who took the hostages, named as Man Haron Monis, died in hospital after the confrontation, Scipione said.
The two victims have since been named as cafe manager Tori Johnson, and barrister and mother of three, Katrina Dawson. 
A statement released on behalf of Johnson’s brother read: “We are so proud of our beautiful boy Tori, gone from this earth but forever in our memories as the most amazing life partner, son and brother we could ever wish for.”
Two women were taken to hospital with non-life threatening gun shot injuries. One woman had a gunshot wound to her shoulder and a male police officer suffered non-life threatening wounds to his face from gunshot pellets. He was discharged on Tuesday.
Another two pregnant women were taken to hospital for assessment. 
Monis was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital after being shot during the gunfight.


— Helen Davidson (@heldavidson)
December 15, 2014
The #sydneysiege is over, NSW police have confirmed. They could not comment on injuries or fatalities but will have more info soon.



The bloody end to the siege happened shortly after 2am local time when a loud bang was heard from the Lindt Cafe and a group of about six hostages fled the building. Moments later stun grenades and gunfire erupted as officers from the tactical operations unit carrying assault rifles and wearing body armour stormed in.
Further exchanges continued and police emerged carrying one injured woman. Paramedics and emergency services then brought out three injured people on stretcher trolleys, performing CPR on one as they rushed away.
A bomb disposal robot then entered the building, but Scipione later said no evidence of explosives was found.
Scipione told a media conference on Tuesday morning the siege was “an isolated incident” and the “act of an individual”. The police response had been extremely cautious throughout the day. Scipione said they had believed no one was injured until that point.
“That changed, [so] we changed our tack,” he said.
He would not comment or speculate on decisions made during the siege or its denouement.
A critical incident investigation has been launched and the professional standards command will have independent oversight.








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The NSW police deputy commissioner Catherine Burn tells reporters an investigation has been launched.


The NSW premier, Mike Baird, gave a statement to the media earlier saying he came to the conference with “the heaviest of hearts”.
“We have lost some of our own,” he said.
“Sydney has been shamed by a tragedy none of us could imagine,” he said, but added that “we will get through this”.
Both Baird and Scipione praised the police’s action and said they saved many lives.
The prime minister, Tony Abbott said the government’s “thoughts and prayers are with the families of the two deceased hostages, the wounded and the other hostages”.
“I commend the courage and professionalism of the New South Wales Police and other emergency services involved,” he said in a statement.





Hostages flee the Lindt Cafe


The Australian cabinet’s national security committee was due to convene on Tuesday morning.
Monis had walked into the Lindt cafe on Monday morning shortly before 10am, reportedly carrying a blue sports bag, and took 17 people hostage. Heavily armed police surrounded the cafe and closed off the streets of the central area.
Hostages were made to hold a flag up at the cafe’s window which 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.
Monis was known to the police, having pleaded guilty in 2013 to offences relating to abusive letters he sent to the families of deceased Australian soldiers. He was on bail facing dozens of charges of indecent and sexual assault. He was also implicated in the murder of his former wife.
A fringe figure in Australia’s Muslim community, Monis had been spurned by Shia leaders, who had reportedly urged federal police to investigate the man over his claims to be an ayatollah, or Shia cleric.
The Iranian-born 49-year-old, who apparently converted from Shia Islam to Sunni only last week, was infamously involved in sending “grossly offensive” letters to parents and relatives of Australian victims of terrorism and troops killed in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009. He unsuccessfully challenged the conviction in the high court last year.
He has also been accused of being an accessory in the killing of his former wife, a charge for which he was on bail.
He told ABC News in 2001 that he fled Australia five years earlier after falling foul of the Iranian regime, which he said had placed his wife and children under house arrest. “I can say they are hostage,” he said at the time.
His former lawyer Manny Conditsis told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “This is a one-off random individual. It’s not a concerted terrorism event or act. It’s a damaged goods individual who’s done something outrageous.”



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Two heavily armed police officers assist a hostage away.
Photograph: JASON REED/REUTERS





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Sydney siege




Sydney




Crime - Australia








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more on this story














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




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












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

Survivors of Martin Place Lindt cafe siege join victims’ families and NSW premier, governor and police commissioner at memorial services



Published: 22 Dec 2014




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












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

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












Sydney siege: videos show gunman's wife a risk to public, say prosecutors

Amirah Droudis faces a bid to revoke her bail pending her trial over the killing of Man Haron Monis’s former wife



Published: 21 Dec 2014




Sydney siege: videos show gunman's wife a risk to public, say prosecutors














Partner of Sydney siege gunman arrives at court - video




Published: 22 Dec 2014




Partner of Sydney siege gunman arrives at court - video








Siege survivor Julie Taylor tells of heartbreak over loss of Katrina Dawson




Published: 18 Dec 2014




Siege survivor Julie Taylor tells of heartbreak over loss of Katrina Dawson








Man Haron Monis lawyers and judges receive death threats and other abuse




Published: 18 Dec 2014




Man Haron Monis lawyers and judges receive death threats and other abuse








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

Eleanor Robertson




Published: 18 Dec 2014







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
















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