Security guards stand guard outside the Assyrian Orthodox Church in Sydney, Australia, Monday, April 15, 2024.
Mark Baker/AP
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Security guards stand guard outside the Assyrian Orthodox Church in Sydney, Australia, Monday, April 15, 2024.
Mark Baker/AP
SYDNEY — Australian police say a stabbing attack in Sydney that injured a bishop and a priest during a church service as worshipers looked on in horror online and in person, and sparked a riot, was an act of terrorism.
Police arrested a 16-year-old boy on Tuesday after a stabbing attack at Christ the Good Shepherd Church that injured Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and a priest. Both should survive.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the suspect’s comments indicated a religious motive behind the attack.
“We will argue that there is some degree of premeditation because this person went to this location, which is not close to his residential address, he traveled with a knife and subsequently the bishop and the priest were stabbed,” Webb said. . “They’re lucky to be alive.”
The teen was known to police but was not on a terrorist watch list, Webb said.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the country’s main national spy agency, and the Australian Federal Police have joined state police in an anti-terrorism task force to investigate others potentially involved.
ASIO chief executive Mike Burgess said the investigation had not yet uncovered any associated threats.
“This appears to be religiously motivated, but we are continuing our investigations,” Burgess said.
“Our job is to vet individuals linked to the perpetrator to ensure there is no one else in the community with similar intentions. At this point we have no indication of that,” Burgess added.
According to ASIO advice, the risk of a terrorist attack in Australia is deemed “possible”. This is the second lowest level after “not expected” according to the five-tier National Terrorism Threat Advisory System.
The boy was convicted in January of various offenses including possession of a switchblade, being armed with a weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence, criminal harassment, intimidation and damage to property, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
A Sydney court released him on good behavior bail, ABC reported.
The boy also used a switchblade knife, an illegal weapon in Australia, in Monday’s attack, ABC reported.
Juvenile offenders cannot be publicly identified in the state of New South Wales.
In response to the attack, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said “there is no place for violence in our community. There is no place for violent extremism.”
Christ the Good Shepherd in the suburb of Wakeley is streaming sermons online and worshipers saw a person dressed in black approach the altar and stab the bishop and priest Isaac Royel during a church service Monday evening before until the congregation overpowered him, police said.
A crowd of several hundred people seeking revenge gathered outside the Assyrian Orthodox church, throwing bricks and bottles, injuring officers and preventing police from taking the teenager outside, reports said. responsible.
Security guards stand guard outside the Assyrian Orthodox Church in Sydney, Australia, Monday, April 15, 2024.
Mark Baker/AP
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Mark Baker/AP
Security guards stand guard outside the Assyrian Orthodox Church in Sydney, Australia, Monday, April 15, 2024.
Mark Baker/AP
The teenage suspect and at least two police officers were also hospitalized, Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Andrew Holland told reporters.
Paramedics treated 30 patients, seven of whom were hospitalized, NSW Ambulance Commissioner Dominic Morgan said.
“This was a rapidly evolving situation where crowds grew from 50 to several hundred people in a very rapid period of time,” Morgan said.
“Our paramedics were directly threatened…and had to retreat into the church,” Morgan added.
The church, in a social media post, said the bishop and priest were in stable condition and asked people to pray. “The bishop and the father wish that you also pray for the perpetrator of the crime,” the statement said.
Holland praised the congregation for subduing the teen before calling police. When asked if the teenager’s fingers had been severed, he said the hand injuries were “serious.”
More than 100 police reinforcements arrived before the teenager was taken from the church during the incident which lasted several hours. Several police vehicles were damaged, Holland said.
“A number of houses were damaged. They broke into several houses to collect weapons to throw at the police. They threw weapons and objects at the church itself. There were obviously people there who wanted access to the church the young person who caused the injuries to the clergy,” he said.
Australians were still in shock after a lone assailant stabbed six people to death at a Sydney shopping center on Saturday and injured more than a dozen others.
Holland suggested the weekend attack had intensified the community’s response to the stabbing attacks on the church.
“Given there have been incidents in Sydney in recent days involving knives, there are obviously concerns,” he said. “We have asked everyone to think rationally at this point.”
The Church said in a statement Tuesday that the health of the 53-year-old Iraqi-born bishop was “improving.”
Emmanuel has a large following on social networks and speaks openly on a series of issues. He proselytizes Jews and Muslims and criticizes liberal Christian denominations.
He also speaks out on global political issues and deplores the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza.
The bishop, described in local media as a figure sometimes seen as divisive on issues such as COVID-19 restrictions, made national headlines last year with comments on gender.
A video published in May 2023 by ABC about a campaign targeting the LGBTQ+ community showed the bishop in a sermon saying that “when a man calls himself a woman, he is neither a man nor a woman, you are not not a human, then you are one. Now, since you are an it, I will no longer address you as a human because it’s not my choice, it’s your choice.
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