Sydney Siege: Up To 20 Hostages Held

[Longineu]

A major police operation is under way in the centre of Sydney, with reports that up to 20 hostages are being held in a cafe.

 

Part of Martin Place - home to the Reserve Bank of Australia, commercial banks and close to the New South Wales state parliament - has been closed off and 100 armed police are reportedly surrounding the area.

 

Live television footage showed patrons inside the Lindt Chocolate Cafe standing with their hands pressed against the windows.

 

A black flag with white Arabic text, similar to those used by Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria, was also visible.

 

A reporter at Australia's Channel Nine News said: "We are dealing with an extremely serious situation.

 

"There are people inside the cafe who have been placed at the window with their hands up to show the world that they have been taken hostage."

 

The news channel also said Sydney Opera House had been evacuated after a suspicious package was found not long after the police operation in the financial district began at around 10am local time.

 

A spokeswoman for New South Wales police could not immediately confirm the reports, and the opera house has not replied to calls.

 

In a separate development, the AFP news agency is reporting that a man was arrested on alleged terrorism offences in the city just a few hours before the police operation began.

 

The 25-year-old was seized this morning as part of "continuing investigations into the planning of a terrorist attack on Australian soil and the facilitation of travel of Australian citizens to Syria to engage in armed combat", the news agency said.

 

He was reportedly arrested as he left a prayer hall, with police due to hold a news conference later today with more details.

 

The arrest comes after the Australian government in September raised its terror threat level and conducted large-scale counter-terror raids across the country.

 

Traders in currency markets said the news of reported hostages may have contributed to a dip in the Australian dollar, which was already under pressure from global risk aversion as oil prices fell anew.

 

The local currency was pinned at $0.8227, having hit its lowest since mid-2010 last week.

 

More follows...

 

http://news.sky.com/story/1391970/sydney-siege-up-to-20-hostages-held-reports

 

está a dar em directo nos canais noticiosos estrangeiros (cnn, sky news, etc)

[ZeeSpecialThree]

Um gajo da Lindt diz que podem estar lá 50 pessoas

[Longineu]

Ao que parece estão lá mais de 40 refens. O Tony Abbott já veio falar e disse:

 

“We don’t yet know the motivation of the perpetrator,” Abbott said, before going on to discuss “politically motivated violence.”

 

“We have to appreciate that even in a society such as ours, there are people who would wish to do us harm,” he said. “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 and contingencies including this situation that we are now seeing in Sydney.”

 

“The whole point of politically motivated violence is to scare people out of being themselves,” Abbott told reporters. “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.”

 

“This is a very disturbing incident,” Abbott concluded. “I can understand the concerns and anxieties of the Australian people at a time like this, but our thoughts and prayers must above all go out to the individuals who are caught up in this.”

 

Hostages inside the cafe have been forced to hold what appears to be an Islamic flag, identified as a Shahada flag, in the cafe's window reading "no god worthy of worship except Allah and Muhammad is his messenger".

 

The flag is used by the group Jabhat al-Nusra - which preaches jihad and has links to terror groups ISIS and Al Qaeda.

 

 

http://www.9news.com.au/National/2014/12/15/10/00/Major-police-operation-in-Sydneys-Martin-Place (tem live stream)

Editado 15 Dezembro 2014 por Mikkelsen

[antifa]

Sydney cafe under siege: what we know so far

 

We are almost three hours into the siege and there are a lot of conflicting reports and speculation. Here is a brief rundown of what we actually do know:

 

- Customers and staff at Lindt Cafe in Martin Place, Sydney, were taken hostage at about 9.45am. There are varying reports on the number of hostages but four have been sighted in camera footage. They were made to stand up against the windows with their hands raised.

-There is at least one gunman.

-A black flag with white writing was put in the window of the cafe. It is not an Islamic State flag. The flag appears to bear the Shahada, an Islamic creed which reads: “There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God.” It can be a benign symbol and appears across the Islamic world, including on the Saudi Arabian flag. But it has also been embraced by jihadi groups such as Jabhat Al-Nusra, an al-Qaida affiliate currently fighting in Syria.

-The prime minister, Tony Abbott, confirmed the national security committee of cabinet has convened for briefings.

-Buildings in the area have been evacuated, as has the Sydney Opera House, though it has not been confirmed why the Opera House has been evacuated.

-The prime minister will address media soon.

 

updates: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2014/dec/15/sydney-siege-reports-of-hostage-situation-inside-martin-place-cafe-live#block-548e370be4b0be1a0a4343ab

[6nario]

epá, fdps, que revolta :/

[Almeno]

:|

[antifa]

já 5 refens fugiram ou foram soltos do café, imagens muito fortes eles a correrem para fora, f*da-se

[Liedson]

Fdx! Parece tirado de um filme, esta cena toda :medinho:

[Ghelthon]

Provavelmente será um terroristazeco sem ligações a um grande grupo tipo ISIS, certo? Digo isto porque, caso fosse, provavelmente já teria limpo os reféns todos a esta hora.

[Blind]

em principio sim

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/latest-sydney-siege-people-are-leaving-the-cafe-2014-12

[antifa]

É apenas um maluco, como de costume. Pelos vistos através de um refém ligou para uma rádio local e pediu para falar com o primeiro-ministro, exigindo que o sequestro fosse considerado um acto de terorismo (:lol:) e disse mais uma série de coisas sem sentido.

Nem sequer acertou na bandeira, se queria passar por terrorista então que levasse mesmo uma do ISIS, a que tem no café é apenas uma bandeira islâmica normal, sem própriamente conotação terrorista, com uma frase muito comum no Islão.

 

 

Editado 15 Dezembro 2014 por antifa

[Lifehouse]

Reféns também na cidade de Ghent na Bélgica

 

Reféns também na cidade de Ghent na Bélgica

[Ghelthon]

Reféns também na cidade de Ghent na Bélgica

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30478231

 

Local prosecutors said there was no indication of any link to terrorism or jihadist group Islamic State.

 

"This isn't the same sort of incident as the events in Sydney," spokeswoman Annemie Serlippens said.

Editado 15 Dezembro 2014 por Ghelthon

[antifa]

Pelos vistos já practicamente todos os media Australianos sabem quem é o sequestrador mas decidiram não avançar com a informação a pedido da policia.

[Red Prince]

[Visitante]

Porque é que não usaram os snipers se é só um lá dentro?

[Lip McBoatface]

:lol: porque eles não sabem se é só um lá dentro. E porque isto não é o CS.

[Visitante]

:lol: porque eles não sabem se é só um lá dentro. E porque isto não é o CS.

 

Qual CS? Tipicamente, nestes casos em que é só um indivíduo e são muitos os reféns em perigo, é o que é feito, principalmente nos EUA. Aliás, até em Portugal no único caso semelhante que tivemos nos últimos anos (e eram dois sequestradores) foram usados snipers. ;)

[antifa]

Parece-me ser um cenário clássico para este tipo de situações, de maneira que a policia deve saber bem o que fazer e devem ter os protocolos todos prontos a seguir. De qualquer maneira já estão perto das 14 horas de sequestro de maneira que o gajo não se deve aguentar em boas condições muito mais tempo e vai começar a ficar cansado e com sono.

 

Ainda para mais um analista disse agora na Sky News que o tipo até pode ser um muçulmano radicalizado, mas quase de certeza que não terá contacto com nenhum grupo já que tudo o que fez é contrário à metodologia dos militantes islâmicos que procuram logo no inicio marcar uma posição através da violência. Este tipo que se saiba ainda não magoou ninguem e nas ultimas horas tem estado ocupado a fazer videos com os refés para postar nas redes sociais já que os media tradicionais não divulgam informação vinda lá de dentro.

 

edit.

 

 

Pelos pedidos vê-se que é um nabo do crl...

Editado 15 Dezembro 2014 por antifa

[Longineu]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2873855/Gunman-takes-hostages-cafe-Sydney.html?ito=social-facebook

[Vaart10]

O quão perigoso pode ser, na realidade, o ISIS?

[UnReal]

http://video.businessinsider.com/d7c5b7c4-c494-4a0f-a681-40ca650b801a.mp4

[Koper]

2 mortos e 3 feridos graves é o balanço provisório.

[Longineu]

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/15/world/asia/australia-sydney-hostage-situation/index.html?sr=fb121514sydneyscafeupdate11aVODtopPhotos

 

"Sydney siege is over." New South Wales police announced on Twitter. "More details to follow."

Police have not commented on casualties in the raid, but Australian media reported that some people may have died and others may have been injured. Police have not disclosed the fate of the gunman, identified by an official with direct knowledge of the situation as Man Haron Monis. It was unknown if any police were injured.

[antifa]

Acabou. Ainda não houve o briefing da imprensa mas provavelmente o gajo começou a disparar ou fez algo que assustou a policia que resolveu entrar em força.

Deverá haver 2 mortos, ele e um refém. Há outros feridos.