Australia claims the stabbing of an Assyrian church was a terrorism attack

As the nation reeled from its second stabbing incident in three days, Australian police claimed on Tuesday that a knife assault on an Assyrian church bishop and several supporters in Sydney was a terrorist act motivated by suspected religious fanaticism.

When a guy swung a knife at Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church during a live-streamed liturgy on Monday, at least four persons were hurt in the incident.

Following the incident in the Wakeley neighborhood of western Sydney, police and a throng of irate supporters of the bishop clashed outside the church, demanding that the assailant be turned over to them.

A male youngster was taken into custody by police at the scene, and for his own protection, they had to detain him at the church.

At a news conference, Karen Webb, the commissioner of state police for New South Wales, stated, “We believe there are elements that are satisfied in terms of religious motivated extremism.”

“After consideration of all the material, I declared that it was a terrorist incident.”

Due to the male attacker’s long commute from his residence to the church with a knife, police said that there was premeditation. However, according to Webb, authorities think the assailant was operating alone at this early point in the inquiry.

“The Church denounces retaliation of any kind,” it continued.

Following the altercation outside the church, emergency personnel reported treating about thirty persons, seven of whom were transported to nearby hospitals with injuries. According to Webb, 20 police cars were destroyed and a number of officers were admitted to the hospital with injuries.

This was the second significant stabbing incident in the country’s most populated city in as many days. On Saturday, a knife assault at a Bondi seaside mall left six people dead and twelve wounded.

“Time to come together”

According to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, violent extremism has no place in Australia.

We are a country that values peace. “As a nation and as a community, we must come together now rather than separate,” he declared during a press conference.

A worldwide viewership is drawn to Bishop Emmanuel’s live-streamed sermons, and his internet video content receives hundreds of millions of views. His comments during the pandemic that lockdowns were “mass slavery” earned him notoriety for his extreme viewpoints, as the media at the time noted. In a speech that was posted to YouTube the previous year, the bishop denigrated Islam.

The largest mosque in Australia, Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s southwest, was threatened with a firebomb on Monday night, according to the Lebanese Muslim Association.

“We’re on guard, and we’re requesting that the police guard all houses of worship. The last thing we need is attacks on any type of faith, which is why we are concerned about them, Secretary Gamel Kheir told reporters.

In order to rule out any other dangers to the community, Australia’s spy head said he would scrutinize those who were close to the perpetrator.

We should take this reasonable action to make sure that security is not at danger right now. We’re not seeing that at this moment,” stated Mike Burgess, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization’s director-general of security.

When asked about a video that went viral showing the alleged attacker faceless and saying in Arabic, “If they didn’t insult my prophet, I wouldn’t have come here,” a reporter brought up the issue. Burgess responded, “We’re aware of those comments… everything else is open lines of inquiry to understand why that individual got to where they did.”