Sydney Cafe Siege Sparks Terror Fears
SYDNEY—Large parts of central Sydney were in lockdown Monday after at least one gunman took hostages in a cafe and placed an Islamic flag in the window, sparking concerns a terrorist attack was under way.
Authorities sealed off surrounding streets, evacuated people from buildings, and suspended several rail routes into and out of the city after the incident began around 9:45 a.m. at the Lindt Chocolate Café in Martin Place in the heart of the business district.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione confirmed that an armed offender was holding an undisclosed number of hostages in a building in the Martin Place area. Police hadn’t had contact with the offender and were still determining his motivation, but a terrorist attack couldn’t be ruled out, the commissioner said.
As many as 40 people were thought to be held in the cafe, a popular stop for shoppers seeking Christmas gifts. Photographs broadcast on television showed people inside with their hands pressed against the window.
It wasn’t clear if anyone inside was linked to hard-line Islamic groups, such as Islamic State, which have been the focus of a crackdown by authorities in recent weeks.
Police declined to say how many people are thought to be in the store, but local media quoted the head of Lindt & Sprungli in Australia, the owner of the cafe, as saying there may have been up to 10 staff and 30 customers inside when the armed man entered. Company officials couldn’t be reached for comment.
Martin Place is a pedestrian area that connects some of the city’s main shopping areas—and isn’t far from big attractions such as the Sydney Opera House and the city’s main ferry terminal. The incident comes days before the Christmas holiday, when the area gets especially busy.
“We don’t yet know the motivation of the perpetrator,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in Canberra. “We don’t know whether this is politically motivated, though obviously there are some indications that it could be.” The prime minister said New South Wales state police were responding to the incident with strong support from federal agencies.
The black flag placed in the cafe window was inscribed with the shahadah, a profession of Muslim faith, which is spoken in mosques daily. That flag has been used previously by al Qaeda and by Jabhat al Nusra in Syria. The flag isn’t banned in Australia.
Mr. Abbott earlier said he’d convened a meeting of the security inner circle in his cabinet to discuss the response to the incident. Australian police haven’t confirmed they are involved in an antiterror operation.
Martin Place is the location of restaurants, the central bank and offices of companies including Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the Channel 7 television station. A spokeswoman for Macquarie Group Ltd. said the investment bank was relocating some staff from its building at 50 Martin Place to other premises in the city, while other employees would work from home for the day. Several other companies also closed their offices and told staff to go home, or made the decision to remain behind locked doors.
Sydney’s Opera House was among the buildings evacuated as part of the police response to the siege, as police boats patrolled the nearby harbor. The country’s share market fell on the uncertainty, as did the Australian dollar.
“I have lived in Sydney my whole life and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Liz Riley, an 18-year-old hospitality worker, who worked nearby. “You don’t think this is the type of thing that would happen here.”
At a cafe opposite Sydney’s busy ferry terminal, Circular Quay, manager Michael Salvartzis appeared upset. The CQ Cafe is normally open 365 days a year, and this is the first time in the five years he has been running it that he’s had to close down.
“Lock up, guys, we have to lock up,” he yelled at his staff, who were still serving cappuccinos and fruit smoothies to tourists sitting on tables in the sun. “Last orders, this is it. The whole CBD is locking up. We have to do it. It’s an order.”
Islamic community leaders expressed shock and anger at the siege. Australia has experienced sweeping terrorism raids recently, in addition to the police shooting of an 18 year-old Islamic State sympathizer in September. Muslim leaders fear the latest development risks igniting community tension, and may lead to acts of random retaliation.
Earlier Monday, the Federal Police arrested a 25-year-old man from a northern Sydney suburb on suspicion of financing terrorism, but police later said there was no link to the current siege.
Around 70 men have had their passports confiscated in recent months due to suspicions they planned to leave the country to fight for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, authorities say.
“The most important thing is the safety and well-being of the hostages,” said Nail Aykan, General Manager of the Islamic Council of Victoria. “But there are also repercussions for prejudice-motivated crime—we don’t want a domino effect into wider society,” he said.
Australia is home to about 476,000 Muslims, many of whom fled violence in Lebanon in the 1970s and ’80s. Many built prosperous lives and worked to promote assimilation in mosques and community centers, inviting politicians to speak and holding open houses for people of other faiths.
An ambulance enters the cordoned off area on Elizabeth Street. Groups of firefighters and police officers wait near the edge of the perimeter. ENLARGE
An ambulance enters the cordoned off area on Elizabeth Street. Groups of firefighters and police officers wait near the edge of the perimeter. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Many Muslim leaders trace today’s extremism in part to December 2005, when a fight between young Muslim men and two white lifeguards on a suburban beach near Sydney led to a demonstration that drew some 5,000 whites, some of whom chanted racist slogans and viciously attacked dark-skinned beachgoers.
In the days that followed, gangs of youths, mainly of Arab descent, rampaged across Sydney’s predominantly white suburbs, smashing windows with machetes, baseball bats and other weapons.
Mr. Abbott urged people to remain calm. “The whole point of politically motivated violence is to scare people out of being themselves,” he said. “We have to appreciate that even in a society such as ours, that there are people who would wish to do us harm. That’s why we have police and security organizations of the utmost professionalism that are ready and able to respond to a whole range of situations.”