General News Sidney siege

Why couldn't they have just used non lethal means to subdue this guy? I was under the impression that Australia was a shining example of how to be civilized, and had no gun problems. What went wrong here?

 

You want to turn this into a sarcastic gloating match?

 

Messed up things happen. The police haven't had anything like this before, so they do make mistakes. You do also know that this was in a place of Sydney that is always busy and a lot of important places are nearby?

 

There was an article stating one of the victims was gay. He tried to wrestle the gun off the hostage taker and was severely beaten and shot dead. The writer's point was that gay men have been stigmatized as being weak and pansies and this was a shining example of that not being the case.

 

There's no gloating or schadenfreude involved. You must forgive me, as I was suffering a bout of ennui. As you well know my opinion on deadly force for violent criminals from other discussions, the death of the perpetrator is a fantastic end to this horrible situation. I do honestly wonder what the turning point is that justifies the instant death sentence in the eyes of the general public.

 

The death of anybody in the situation like this is a terrible end. I can feel why people would feel vengeance against the shooter, but the optimal end of a conflict like this is the assailant putting down arms or being injured and detained to stop any further bloodshed if it can be accomplished. In this situation that may not have been able to be done, but I'm sure it was at the very least attempted. And to say that Australia has gun violence problems if a very very uninformed thing to say, as Australia has been very smart in how they have fought gun violence. One incident where two civilians die is tragic, but it in no way implies that Australia's gun policy is an abject failure, in fact it is quite the opposite.

 

It is shocking to see people criticising strong force being used against the terrorists...Theres being do-gooders and then there sympathising with terrorism. The latter seems the present theme.

 

Name them, please. Otherwise it's scaremongering as usual.

 

I'm neither a 'go-gooder' nor a terrorist sympathizer, but I am disgusted with how our govt uses every single little 'incident' as a convenient excuse to bring in more draconian 'legislation' which stealthily erodes freedom in this country. Be prepared for more of the same.

 

Prepare for a rant.

I live in Sydney, and my father works in an office building a few blocks away from this. When my brother and I were children he would take us to this exact Lindt cafe and we would all have hot chocolates, it was a Saturday ritual. When I got a text from my Dad saying 'there is a terrorist attack happening down the street' I am not interested in politics. I am interested in my father and the safety of everyone affected. This is how the Australian police responded.

There were 17 hostages held in that cafe for over 16 hours. The police handled it in a professional and sensitive manner, and only stormed the cafe when Man Haron Monis pointed a gun at one of the hostages. The Australian police were nothing but calm and peaceful and only used deadly force when it was absolutely necessary.
Lives were saved.
I am proud to be an Australian and we live in a free, peaceful country. We have done wrong in the past and our racist, bigoted Prime Minister is not at all an accurate spokesperson for the people of this nation, but the manner in which the police behaved on this horrible day was commendable and made me incredibly proud.

The nation is launching a huge inquiry into the events of the 15th of December 2014.

I'd like to take a moment to include that these are the procedures and levels of peaceful negotiation that come as second nature to the Australian police and would be considered exceptional in the United States. I do not think that the States or even the rest of the world are currently in a position to criticize, and that should not be the first thing someone comments on when seeing an article presenting the fact that people have died.

Thank you.

 

Did everyone see the memorial? Beautiful.

 

Totally agree and you said it perfectly..

I think the police and everyone involved did a wonderful job and us outsiders can't judge the police on what they should or should not have done as we didn't have access to the intelligence they did.. I also think we need to use this as time to come together and stand together as one and remember the two who were killed and also say prayers for them and the other hostages and all of the people involved in this.. #illridewithyou

 

I'm really saddened that something like this happened . It's really eerie that I just watched a movie last week where a terrorist (with a British accent) held up a diner and held six people hostage within the diner.

Anyway, I love the memorial. So many flowers, so much support :eek: I think that the police did as much as they could have and without them, there might have been more lives taken.

 

When someone starts to execute their hostages, the Police must move in as they did. There was no alternative unless people believe that they should have walked in to hug a man who had started to murder people. Two hostages died instead of all of them.

 

More news out of Australia: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/12/19/world/asia/ap-as-australia-children-killed.html?_r=0

 

It's very sad news.

So people outside of Australia understand, Cairns is approx 2,500km north of Sydney in the most direct route traveling inland. Longer if you drive along the coastal road.