Islamist extremists seize hostages in central Sydney

[Super Nova]

WTF. I hope this ends without any loss of hostage life. Sad... very sad. This should not be happening in Australia.

Dozens of people are being held hostage by at least one suspected Islamic activist in a café in central Sydney’s business district.



Up to 50 staff and customers were taken prisoner after an armed man walked into the Lindt Chocolate Café in Sydney’s Martin Place shortly before 10am local time.

Shortly afterwards two of the captives were seen holding up a black flag with Arabic writing pressed up against the shop’s window.

Scores of heavily armed police surrounded the area and blocked off the entrance to a large swathe of the district. Police said they did not know the motive behind the attack but added they had “moved to a footing that would be consistent with a terrorist event”.

State government agencies are housed in the same building as the café.

[Super Nova]

Update:


3:44pm: NSW Police have not confirmed that any hostages have been released or escaped.
.

3:41pm: Three people - one staff member and two others - have been seen on footage shown on Channel 7 running from the Lindt Cafe.
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3:38pm: Channel 7 is reporting hostages are running from the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place.

[Super Nova]

3 got out... good on them.

3:56pm: Deputy Commissioner Burn has confirmed that three hostages have made it out of the Lindt Cafe at Martin Place.

[skippy]

Yes it's a strange feeling today. I always knew it could happen but it's weird when it does.

[Black Orchid]

I had afternoon tea in that same cafe just a few weeks ago. They have a great chocolate molten lava cake.

Glad it wasn't today although I would never be there that early

[Neferti]

Do we know what this is REALLY about? I flicked the TV on to ABC 24 or whatever and they were rambling on and on. I caught them lying, bare faced, about what Tony Abbott said in his interview about the situation.

Then the Premier and Police Chief were interviewed (no doubt everybody saw it) and journos were asking the exact same question again and again ... typical leftards who think that asking/doing the same thing repeatedly will get a different response! Pathetic.

Hope everyone gets out safe and sound ... must be a horrific experience.

[Black Orchid]

I hope they all get out safely too. It must be a terrifying experience.

[5.56 NATO]

Have muslims , have terrorism. I hope they shoot this fluffy bunny in the face , round the rest of em up and fuck em off to their caliphate in Syria. This cancerous piece of shit of a religion and its poisonous adherents have fucked every joint they have gotten into .

[skippy]

So this guy is demanding an ISIS flag and talk with Abbott.

[Neferti]

So this guy is demanding an ISIS flag and talk with Abbott.

Is he?

When I first heard about this I thought that perhaps it was that Sydney Muslim Dad who lost his daughter in the ME (she died) and was blaming Tony Abbott for NOT stopping her from going over their to "fight" for Islam. Geeze.