Sydney Siege Ends In Tragedy

At 10am on Monday the 15^th of November a single man armed with a gun held 17 people hostage until 2am Tuesday morning in a Lindt Café in Martin Place Sydney.

The hostage situation has ended with the deaths of three people: mother of three Katrina Dawson and the Lindt cafe manager Tori Johnson. The gunman, Man Haron Monis, is also dead. One officer involved in the siege was shot and was immediately taken to hospital but no more information regarding his condition has been released leaving speculation that he may be the third victim.

Much speculation is surrounding the siege just hours after it has come to a close. Australia is simply asking, why? Was the motivation of offender Man Haron Monis political, religious, or something else?

On the 15^th of December shortly after it was confirmed that hostages were being held by a gunman in a café at Martin Place in Sydney, Primeminister Tony Abbott made a statement saying that he was unsure if the attack was politically motivated but all evidence is pointing to it.

Tony Abbott’s statement then continued with “Of course, if anyone does have any suspicions of untoward activity there is the National Security Hotline…

I can let you know that the National Security Committee of the Cabinet has been briefed on this incident.” The subtext of this statement is that the siege was not just a local crime but instead was treated as an incident of national security, meaning perhaps that the Australian government was preparing for a larger attack. All this indicates that the motivation of Man Haron Monis was in fact political and religious.

Monis has a violent past and was convicted of sending poisonous letters to family members of fallen Australian soldiers.

The flag Monis made two hostages hold up was religious and is linked to the Islamic State terrorist group. Since tension has only continued to rise between Australia and IS, the Australian government seems to have treated this incident as a direct attack from them meaning that although Australia is left mourning the tragedy, we may be entering a darker time that resembles a full blown war between Australia and IS.

Taylor-Jayne Wilkshire

Sources: http://www.liberal.org.au/latest-news/2014/12/15/prime-minister-press-conference-canberra

http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2014/12/16/live--sydney-siege-ends-as-police-storm-cafe.html

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