Sydney Cafe Seige
So for anyone who hasn't heard, during the morning of December 15th a man took 17 hostages inside a Lindt cafe at Martin Place in Sydney's central business district. The man sealed himself with the hostages inside the cafe until just after 2:00 AM the next morning when the police broke down and side door and a 40-second firefight cause the deaths of the gunman and two hostages. Here's what's known:
The gunman: Man Monis was an Iranian refugee who came to Australia in 1996. Since that time, he had sent letters to the families of several dead Australian soldiers and causing the families much grief, has had forty charges of sexual assault, and has been charged as an accessory to the murder of his wife who was killed in Western Sydney last year. To him, I say fuck you.
Key events: During the day, hostages inside the cafe were forced to put their hands up against the window and two were forced to hold up a flag with Arabic writing saying "There is no God but Allah." Later, three hostages escaped through a side door, and two through the back of the building.
As night came, an eerie quite settled on the area, as described by news reporters. Police had an exclusion zone set up, which is still in place, and anyone who works within the zone has been advised to work from home if possible. In the early hours of the morning, around seven hostages burst out of the cafe into the stunned police, and seconds later the gunman allegedly fired at the remaining hostages which prompted the police to raid the cafe. Currently, an investigation is already underway at the scene.
So what I want to say about this is that this is easily the most shocking and terrible attack in Australian history. This shows how just one person with a gun and some serious issues can grab the attention of an entire country. I want to now acknowledge the Muslim groups who offered support and sympathies for the terrified hostages, the police who did everything in their power to counter this attack, and the regular people who have shown support for Muslims who have likely been discriminated against as a result of this heartless incident. People like this gunman are scum of the earth and while it's sad that this had to end in violence, it's good that there's now one less monster in the world. It's sad that people like this are painting Islam, a religion of peace, in a bad light. My sympathies are with the friends and families of the victims.
Please feel free to add anything else to this.
Comments
I'd disagree with this statement, but I don't want to start an inflammatory discussion over it, so, I won't.
What exactly do you mean? If you're suggesting that Islam isn't a religion of peace, then I'll just say that I've encountered Muslims who are more civilised and tolerant than lots of others.
I'm not denying that most Muslims are probably like this, but that doesn't make Islam "a religion of peace". A lot of things contradict that very claim.
Well, as much as a lot of things contradict Christianity being a religion of peace, historically.
And Judaism for that matter, with the first modern example of a 'terrorist attack' being performed by Zionist Jews in 1946, incidentally also the second biggest terrorist attack ever.
Did you see the #I'llridewithyou campaign?
That was really heartwarming.
There are pretty much no "religions of peace", at least when it comes to Abrahamic religions.
Indeed, but to a certain extent that renders it pointless to refer to them as religions of war.
Let's refer to them simply as "religions", then, since it's often a nature of religion to be polarizing.
I think both of you guys made some good points. Let's just say that most religious people are peacefu.
Yeah, that really shows how good people can be to each other in a crisis.
Yes, for the most part. There are bad apples everywhere and how rotten they are depends on what actions they commit, but, still, the majority of religious people aren't that bad.
I don't really want to get into a argument in this thread, so i will say this...
My condolences out to the innocent. Other than that, there really isn't anything more to say on it without sounding like a racist.
This was horrible, I'm glad most of the hostages are alive. It's not everyday something like this happens and it can cause some major problems. I worst part of this is that innocent Muslims may be discriminated against and harassed because of a mad man who obviously had a past of problems and crimes.
I don't live in Australia but I'm glad the police handled this correctly...By the way...
Might be too late. :P
Fanaticism at its finest. A pity these people use Islam as their scape goat to be terrible fucking people.
Never to late to say "fuck you" to an asshole.
Too late for him to hear it though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoSd8-MJShc
This happened at about 2:15 in the morning over here, just after most of the remaining hostages escaped in one group. Pretty clear that this was not going to go down well.
This was on Monday afternoon when three hostages escaped. The door they escaped through is where the police entered later.
I'm surprised how many people are acknowledging that this is the fault of fanaticism and not Islam itself.
Pleasantly so, of course. I thought this forum was far more republican/conservative than that.
Or they're just hiding.
Its just sad to see this shit happen, but sadly anymore it almost feels routine...
Was very sad. This and the Taliban attack on the school children in Pakistan all within a couple of days has made this week very gruesome ;-;
I heard nothing about that. Disgusting. Attacking children is wrong, inhuman, and the lowest tĥng you can do. I hope there weren't any deaths, but I doubt it turned out that way.
There were deaths
and I heard that it was a school for children of military parents, Fuckers, attacking the parents kids to get to them....
Sometimes the things we think should be labeled as racist aren't actually racist. So, having been what you've been through, no, I don't think what you'd have to say about something like this would be racist.