LIVE FEED: Australian cafe held up by someone with Islamic flag

[mralstoner]

It's a black shahada flag, I believe ("There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger."), not an ISIS flag, but what's the difference? Hope it ends well. This is my home town. Gunman with 13 hostages. They picked a cafe opposite a television station for maxium media coverage (just like ISIS instructed them to do). Watch live feed here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvzpSvyyZis

Channel 7 (which is opposite the cafe) live feed is here:
https://twitter.com/Y7News/status/544269209929138176

[The Valkyrie]

Motherfuckers.

My home town, too.

[mralstoner]

Motherfuckers.

My home town, too.

Exactly. Hope they survive.

[mralstoner]

Here's a more reliable live stream from Channel 7:

https://au.news.yahoo.com/video/watch/17...ve-sydney/

Reportedly the gunman was trying to obtain an Islamic State flag in exchange for release of some hostages.

[Ryantology]

And I'd give them one. Soaked in bacon grease.

[Aractus]

I have been watching the coverage for this terrorist attack for some time now and I can tell everyone a few things. First this is what one of the hostages had to say:



Second, police did not commence communications with the madman before the five hostages were "released". He released them with a message for the police and media, and the message was that he wanted: a. an ISIL flag and b. to talk to Tony Abbott. It appears so far that's the only reason why they were released. The same message had already been relayed to the media, and the hostages reportedly asked at least one radio presenter to put them live on air as instructed by the terrorist.

Earlier in the day he had his hostages hold up an Islamic flag in the window for hours.

I have had a strong feeling from the start that this will end in bloodshed. Hopefully police will be in a position to storm the building and take out the madman before he has a chance to execute his hostages. Even though police have said they are in negotiations with the terrorist, I don't believe they have had any direct communication with him and I believe that their first communication from him came from the five released hostages. He released at least three staff workers, but I think he released all the staff that was there as a tactical decision to get the people who are most familiar with the cafe out so that he can be in greater control. I can't think of any other reason why you would release workers in particular, and I think it sends a clear message that he is not backing down from his pursuit.

He is releasing hostages because he does not intend a mass execution and is well aware that he can make his bloodthirsty point by killing just one person. It also makes it easier to control a smaller number of people. That is why, in my view, he is making these demands - he wants the politicians to say that it is an ISIL attack before he brutally carries out an execution or executions - he knows that he has all day to get what he wants and that if he fails he can still kill the hostages he wants to kill.

As to whether he is actually associated with ISIL or whether he's a sympathiser is not known, and why he didn't bring an ISIL flag also isn't clear, perhaps in his haste this morning he forgot it or he brought the wrong flag with him.

I could be proven wrong in a couple of hours and I hope I am, but we'll have to wait and see.

We do actually have a world class media system I think the restraint they've shown goes a long way. They've received at least one video of the hostages making demands on behalf of the terrorist which they haven't aired, and the channel seven staff were allowed back in their building where they have a clear view of the cafe, and have not tried to provide video of it. They've also chosen not to name the terrorist even though he has now been identified both by police and the media, and he is known to police.

The police I'm a little less impressed with, especially earlier today when the commissioner admitted he didn't know how many hostages there were when asked why the number of hostages is undisclosed.

---

Okay, again with his more recent media address I'm not impressed at all. The commissioner's language certainly made it sound as if they have not been able to open a direct line of communication with the terrorist to a negotiator, it seems for the moment that they're calling his bluff and waiting him out until he releases another hostage. As I said I could be wrong, it may be a ploy and perhaps they really are negotiating.

[mralstoner]

Thanks for the update Aractus, that's way more than the media is telling us. I can add:

1 - I read that it is not easy to get hold of an Islamic State flag. I guess the authorities are rightly watching/banning such items.

2 - I also read the police asked the media not to report the demands of the perp, for operational reasons.

3 - I heard the perp was furious that some hostages got away. Maybe he's not in total control.

His location (in clear view of Channel 7 television offices) gels with his wish that this be known as an attack by Islamic State.

Yeah, it's still a dangerous situation. Hopefully it can be defused one way or another.

[Zen Badger]

The police should inform him that if he kills any hostages, they will shoot him with bullets dipped in pigs blood.
That should give him second thoughts about being a martyr for the cause.

[mralstoner]

No doubt this is why he chose the location, because the cafe is literally in view of rolling TV cameras at Channel 7's offices across the mall.

[Aractus]

1 - I read that it is not easy to get hold of an Islamic State flag. I guess the authorities are rightly watching/banning such items.

That's plausible, in any case he may not have one.

2 - I also read the police asked the media not to report the demands of the perp, for operational reasons.

That's true, but they did publish the demands throughout the course of the day even though they largely ignored referencing them specifically later on.

3 - I heard the perp was furious that some hostages got away. Maybe he's not in total control.

Look, again plausible. I do not know the content of most of the other social media communication that's been coming out, because it keeps getting deleted. I did just now see a video of a hostage relaying his three demands:
1. he wants an IS flag in exchange for one hostage
2. he wants the media to report that this is an IS attack in exchange for two hostages
3. he wants Tony Abbott to call him directly in exchange for five hostages
and
4. he's claiming to have bombs around the city (although nobody seems to believe this).

This seems to have been his consistent claims for the past 12 hours.

Here is another tweet with the same message:



Which like the other ones and the videos posted to Youtube have been deleted presumably by Twitter and Google (e.g. /watch?v=BZwq5OMhT98 is the video I saw before it was taken down). You can see them at https://twitter.com/hashtag/sydneysiege within a minute or two of them popping up and then not again.

His location (in clear view of Channel 7 television offices) gels with his wish that this be known as an attack by Islamic State.

And down the road from the courts and NSW parliament.

---

Also, I'm really not impressed at all by the response by Islamic community leaders. One of them said "we don't apologise for this because this is not what we believe". That just is not good enough. A few months ago on QandA one young Muslim asked the PM, the Hon. Tony Abbott why they are targeted by police. He responded by saying that it is in fact terrorist organisations that are targeting the vulnerable in their community and that they as a community need to do more to prevent this and protect their community. It was one of the very best examples of him answering a question very strongly and in such a clear and agreeable way.

It's simple and I agree with it, they know their community is targeted by ISIL and organisations like them to find terrorist recruits, and they need to do more as a community to put a stop to it and protect the members of their family and community.