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Key Points
- A knife attack at a church in Sydney’s west was broadcast on the church’s live stream.
- The footage showed a person dressed in black approaching and stabbing the bishop multiple times.
- A 16-year-old, who is known to police but was not on a terror watch list, is in custody.
“This is a time to unite, not divide, as a community, and as a country.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia was “overwhelmingly a harmonious society” and called for calm as an alleged Sydney church stabbing was declared a terrorist incident. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch
Opposition leader Peter Dutton said he and his colleagues “stand ready to support the government”.
“I have expressed that in my letter to the prime minister today that we stand shoulder to shoulder with the government to provide reassurance to the Australian public at the moment who, off the back of Bondi, what we saw in western Sydney, and what the Jewish community is experiencing at the moment, I think people would expect us to take that stance and we do.”
Crowds gather after knife attack
“People should not take the law into their own hands, but should allow our police and our security agencies to do their job.”
NSW forensic police at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, Sydney, on Tuesday. Source: AAP / Bianca De Marchi
ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said the attack appeared to be religiously motivated.
Police say stabbing a ‘terrorist incident’
The teenager was known to police but was not on a terror watch list, the commissioner added.
The suspect is “known to police” and not a regular attendee at the church, NSW Police officials have said. Source: Supplied / YouTube
The weapon used has been described as a flick-knife and detectives are also investigating if the boy lost fingers as part of the attack or the unrest afterward.
“They’re lucky to be alive.”
Christ the Good Shepherd Church released a statement on Monday. Source: Supplied / Facebook
The attack led to street violence near the Assyrian church, where hundreds of people gathered and scores of police tried to disperse the crowd during which officers were injured and vehicles damaged.