Sydney Lindt Chocolate Cafe Siege Monday Dec 15,2014

Several held hostage by a gunman at the Lindt Chocolate Cafe,Martin Place,Sydney,Australia 

 

• 1. At 09:45 on Monday local time (22:45 GMT Sunday) police are called to the Lindt Chocolat Cafe in Sydney following reports of an armed robbery. It soon emerges a gunman is holding a number of people hostage.
• 2. Between 16:00-17:00, three men, then two women, sprint to safety from the cafe's side door - a fire exit.
• 3. Just after 02:00 on Tuesday, a loud bang is heard from the cafe and special operations officers advance towards the side door.
• 4. More hostages escape, running to safety on Elizabeth Street.
• 5. Moments later, commandos storm the cafe via a number of entrances. The remaining hostages escape.
• 6. Police officially confirm the end of the siege at 02:45 local time. They later report the deaths of three people, including the gunman.

Hostages stand with their hands pressed up against the windows of the Lindt cafe

 This CCTV image appears to show the gunman holding one of his hostages

NSW Premier Mike Baird, left, and Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione say there is one armed offender holding “an undisclosed number of hostages” at the Lindt cafe in Sydney’s Martin Place

 A screenshot from Channel Seven, showing hostages in the Lindt cafe

Hostages are being forced to hold an Islamic Flag against the window of the Lindt Chocolat Cafe in Martin Place after at least one gunman stormed the premises, reports Megan Levy.The Flag shown being held by hostages against the window of Lindt Chocolat Cafe is not an Islamic State Flag,but is an Islamic flag that has been co-opted by jihadist groups, reports David Wroe.

 People and media are gathering behind "safe" barricaded part of the MartinPlace Siege

The area surrounding the cafe has been completely cordoned off. Workers in nearby buildings, including the Seven Network and the NSW government building, have been ordered to evacuate the area

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Hundreds of evacuees from neighbouring office blocks take refuge in Hyde Park. 

A map showing the location of the siege at the Lindt cafe in Sydney. It shows just how close it is to important sites, like Parliament House, the NSW Law Courts, the Reserve Bank, and the US Consulate.

 

Prime Minister Tony Abbott speaks to the media about the Sydney siege on Monday

"We have to appreciate that even in a society such as ours there are people who would wish to do us harm."

"That's why we have police and security organisations of the utmost professionalism that are ready and able to respond to a whole range of situations and contingencies."

Statement from NSW Police

"There is a police operation underway at Martin Place. Police and emergency services have responded and a number of streets around the area have been closed. The Martin Place train station is also shut.
Police are dealing with an armed incident and specialist officers are attempting to make contact those inside a café.
Some nearby offices have been evacuated as a precaution. Anyone else in the area encompassing Hunter, George, Elizabeth and Macquarie streets bordering Martin Place is directed to remain indoors and away from open windows. Anyone in the vicinity but outside that area is free to leave their buildings."

Statement from NSW Premier Mike Baird

All my thoughts and prayers are with those members of the public affected by the situation in Martin Place and the NSW Police who are trained to deal with these events.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione: "This is a difficult day for eveyone involved"
He says there is an armed offender holding an undisclosed number of hostages.
"We want this matter to end peacefully."

 Daily Telegraph #SydneySiege front page with comment piece "The instant we changed forever"

Police have confirmed 3 people have escaped from the Lindt cafe in Martin Place.TV footage shows two men running from towards the front of the cafe on Elizabeth Street and a third, dressed in what appears to be a Lindt uniform, escaping out a side door on Phillip Street.

Two hostages run to safety outside the cafe.

NSW Police will not confirm the number of people remaining in the cafe, but Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn says it is less than 30

The flag displayed by hostages held inside a Sydney cafe by an armed terrorist bears the words 'There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah' written in white Arabic on a black background.

Called the Shahada flag, it differs from the black and white flag used by the group ISIS, which has carried out beheadings in Syria.

The flag is used by the extremist group, Jabhat al Nusra, which is fighting the Assad government in Syria. But it has meaning for all Muslims, in that the Shahada is the Islamic Creed, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, which is recited by Muslims when they pray.

In reciting the Shahada, a Muslim bears witness that Allah is the only true god, and that Muhammad is Allah’s prophet.

Lindt Chocolate Cafe Siege Ends

The 34-year-old manager of the Lindt cafe, Tori Johnson, and mother of three Katrina Dawson, 38, have been named as the two hostages killed during the Sydney siege on Tuesday morning. Four others have been injured, including a woman with serious gunshot wounds to the leg. The Muslim gunman identified as self-styled Iranian Sheik Man Haron Monis was also shot dead after police burst into the Martin Place cafe at 2.11am Tuesday and opened fire. Minutes before police stormed the cafe, seven hostages managed to escape 17 hours after the siege began.

Katrina Dawson, a 38-year-old whose children are all under 10, died in hospital. She was a barrister at Eight Selborne Chambers in Sydney's Phillip Street, opposite the site of the siege.

 

Police stormed the cafe in central Sydney where a gunman held hostages for more than 16 hours

Live TV footage showed hostages running frantically from the cafe at shortly after 2am in small groupsIt came hours after gunman Man Haron Monis was named as the person holding people hostage 

Officers moved in firing automatic weapons and throwing grenades as hostages were seen fleeing
Three women had to be treated for gunshot wounds and another two for non life-threatening injuries
Male police officer was among those injured after he was wounded by a gunshot pellet to his face

The siege ended after less than two minutes of gunfire at 2.15am

• Five hostages were injured in the shootout which left the gunman dead
• Three women suffered gunshot wounds - a 75-year-old who was hit in the shoulder, a 52-year-old in the foot and a 43-year-old in the leg
• A police officer was injured by gunshot pellets to his face. He has now been released from hospital
• Two pregnant women, aged 35 and 30, are both in stable conditions after undergoing health assessments

The hostages were seized by the gunman on Monday morning after he stormed the Sydney cafe. Several captives made an early courageous break for freedom but it was thought that about 15 hostages remained in the cafe through the night. 

During the stand-off with police, three videos were released on YouTube, believed to be of three female hostages putting the gunman's demands to police. Those demands included the police bringing an ISIS flag to the cafe and insisting on a conversation with Prime Minister Tony Abbott. 

The gunman's name Haron Monis - also known as Sheik Haron was released soon after midnight after senior police gave their approval to various media outlets.

A total of five hostages, including barista Elly Chen, managed to escape the cafe by scrambling out a side door about seven hours into the drama

 

 

 

 

Infosys techies Vishwakant Ankit Reddy and Pushpendu Ghosh have both been rescued


Marcia Mikhael, who works as a Westpac executive, was forced to record a chilling video message listing demands made by gunman Man Haron Monis as she was held hostage at Sydney's Lindt cafe. The 42-year-old was one of several hostages forced to stand in front of a black Islamic flag and relay several demands required by the 50-year-old gunman who she referred to as 'The Brother'.

 

As Australia mourned the dead, thousands of people gathered at Martin Place to lay flowers

 

 NSW Premier Mike Baird laid a bunch of flowers alongside hundreds of other Sydneysiders

Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove and his wife Lynne also paid tribute

 Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his wife Margie pay their respect to the victims of the siege at a cafe in Martin Place, Sydney on Tuesday Dec 16,2014

Sydney bids farewell to victims

 

Sydney is remembering the victims of the Lindt cafe siege, with a funeral for manager Tori Johnson and a memorial service for barrister Katrina Dawson.

Tori Johnson's funeral is taking place at St Stephen's Uniting Church, close to Martin Place, where the Lindt Cafe is based. His family and friends say they are planning a celebration of his life.

A memorial service for Katrina Dawson is to be held at the University of Sydney.

 About Gunman Haron Monis - also known as Sheik Haron

Haron Monis said in 2001 that Australia was 'heaven' but his view soured after he was convicted of sending malicious letters to the families of Australian soldiers and he spent 12 weeks in prison when he was 'tortured' by having 'excrement' thrown at him

Born Manteghi Bourjerdi, the extremist left Iran for Australia in 1996 and adopted various names including 'Ayatollah' before settling on Sheik Haron Monis, but it was all fake and he was outed by Australian Shia leaders who ridiculed his website saying it was amateurish and misworded

The family of Martin Place gunman Man Haron Monis's murdered ex-wife have publicly expressed their outrage that he was free on bail before taking hostages in the Lindt cafe in central Sydney on Monday.

Monis was on bail on a charge of colluding with his girlfriend, Amirah Droudis, who is allegedly a Muslim convert, to murder Noleen Hayson Pal.

Ms Pal was lured to the Werrington apartment block in western Sydney where Monis was living in April last year and allegedly doused with accelerant, set alight and then stabbed 18 times by Droudis.

At the time, Monis and Ms Pal were involved in a bitter custody battle over their two young sons.