So theres no training behind this. Theres no standard attack in any of this. So, actually, we can see it going any way. But i think the i think the longer it goes on without violence the more likely there wont be any. Welcome back, everybody. Im john vause at the cnn center. Im natalie allen. Thank you for joining us. Weve been here several hours with this breaking news out of australia. And we will continue to bring you the latest now. And wed like to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. Wed like to give you the update now. A gunman is Still Holding an unknown number of people at a lindt coffee shop in sydneys Main Business district. Sky News Australia reports that the Hostage Taker, seen here, is calling himself the brother. He has forced hostages to speak with three Media Outlets over the phone. He apparently has two demands. He wants an isis flag. He also wants a conversation with australias Prime Minister. We also have video of five hostages who managed to get out. We still dont know how they did it. But they got out. That was the first one we saw in the blue jacket. Then the man in the white shirt. And then there was one more that burst out of another door, a door that police arent standing behind. That was about four hours ago. When that happened. And then two women, two workers ran out a short time later still wearing their aprons from the coffee shop. That woman. And then right behind her this one. All five hostages reportedly escaped from the cafe. They were not released. That is the information that we have at least. And they are now of course speaking to police. One was being observed at a hospital. It has been now more than ten hours since the gunman walked into that cafe. A flag with an islamic phrase was held up to the cafes
window. Later hostages were forced to stand at that window with their hands up against it. Australias Prime Minister has spoken about the Hostage Taker. We dont yet know the motivation of the perpetrator. We dont know whether this is politically motivated. Although obviously there are some indications that it could be. We have to appreciate that even in a society such as ours there are people who would wish to do us harm. Well, our anna coren has been with us pretty much from the start of this, and shes now live there in sydney, and youve been describing a lot of things going on today, anna. But the good news is that you havent had to report on anyone getting hurt. And as far as you know, is the situation ongoing, hostages still inside that cafe and no one at this point hurt . Reporter yeah, thats right, natalie. Certainly according to the Deputy Police commissioner. She wants this resolved peacefully. The siege now into its ninth hour. We know that the Hostage Taker, who is armed, has a number of hostages. We still dont have specifics. Its rather frustrating. I have to admit that we dont have the details that we would hope. But certainly police remajor extremely tightlipped. They say they have the situation under control, that they are talking to the gunman, who is armed. We dont know if he just has a gun or if he has explosives or bombs. But certainly the cbd, the Central Business district of the city here in sydney, has been evacuated. All those buildings. The banks. The law courts. The Commercial Area has been evacuated. And there was a stream of people leaving the officers, telling me
that authorities have told them to keep away from the window. They were kept in their building for hours until police could get to them and get them out safely. But certainly now we know that five hostages have managed to get away from the cafe. Still here on the ground we dont know if they escaped or if they were released. But certainly according to the Police Commissioner, the Deputy Police commissioner, catherine burn, she wants this resolved peacefully. And if this is going to go into the night, and now its gone, 7 00 p. M. Local time, then they are prepared to do that. They dont want there to be any bloodshed and any violence. So anna, you and i, both stranl australians, weve both reported in australia. Never before has there been anything like this on the australian mainland. We had the bali bombing in 2002. This is an unprecedented situation. How are people reacting to it . Because its been going on for a number of hours now. Were getting a lot more information. Is it all starting to sink in . Reporter yeah, definitely. And i think youre absolutely right. Australias real taste of terrorism back in 2002, when 88 australians were killed in bali, we havent had anything like that since then. And really for this to be taking place now, still obviously these gunmen wanting an isis flag, holding up, or forcing these hostages to hold up a sign in arabic writing, it would certainly suggest that he is a sympathizer of islamic extremists, but we dont know that for sure. But yes, its startling for people here. Talking to tourists, talking to people who live, who work here, they say it is seriously offputting, its scary. They are fearful that there
could be other people out there who want to harm australians, who want to harm our way of life. Which is a very open society. A tolerant and democratic society, an open society. We know that there are people here in this country who have ties to isis, who are sympathizers of isis. We know that there are 100 citizens who go on and join the fight in iraq and syria and that there are many people still here who are supporters of those fighters. Certainly australia became a target for them ever since they got involved in this fight against isis. We know we have hundreds of troops helping out, you know, advising and training the peshmerga, the kurdish forces, the iraqi forces on the ground there. And certainly, you know, fighter jets, part of the air campaign that is aggressively attacking isis. So australia very much a target. But certainly we havent seen
anything like this on our home soil. Yes, im curious, anna, this is natalie. What is that all around you . Were seeing a long line of police cars, ambulances. Kind of describe the situation that youre seeing around you. Reporter for sure. So just to give you an idea, were about a block from where that cafe is, the lindt cafe. And along here, this is mcquarry street, all these ambulances are parked. Theyve been coming here over the past several hours, obviously on standby in case the situation turns violent, turns ugly. We havent seen any sign the five hostages who have managed to get away. We know that theyre with police. There are hundreds of police in the area. But certainly this area is cordoned off. We cannot go any further. We were closer to the cafe. We had a visual of the cafe several hours ago, but police have since moved us on. I am now here with all the rest of the media. Australian media and also international media. Theres a huge contingency of media here now focuses very much on this story and what it means. For australia and the threat of course of terrorism. And as its emerged what the gbman demandsr the two demands, he wants an isis flage also wants to talk to the australian Prime Minister tony abbott, the authorities there have been reluctant to release that information. Why is that . It seems kind of benign really in the scheme of things. So why was there concern that this information was getting out there . Reporter yeah, it does seem very strange, and its certainly frustrating for us in the media trying to disseminate information to the public, to not have access to that, to not know how many hostages are still
in the building, to not know if its only one gunman or if there are more involved. Police have been extremely tightlipped. That is the way that Australian Authorities operate. It always has been that way, as you would know, john, having reported here in australia for many years. It just is the culture. They want to contain it. They want to focus on resolving this situation. They dont want the media involved. We have to remember that that gunman you would have to presume chose that site. It was located opposite the 7 Network Australia. Perfect Vantage Point to get the worlds attention. So clearly he had an objective. Now his demands, they seem a bit bizarre. They seem very strange, that he now wants an isis flag and he wants a Phone Conversation with the australian Prime Minister tony abbott. But certainly i think what we can assure you is that negotiators are talking to him, hoping that the situation will be resolved peacefully. Okay. All right. Anna coren for us there in
sydney. We thank you again. And its interesting, isnt it, john, that police arent saying much at all, but this man, whoever he is, has reached out to the media and maybe this is the point. Sorry. Didnt mean to interrupt. But maybe this is the point, that the police dont want him getting his message out and theyve managed to stop him at every turn. He contacted a Radio Station, two tv stations, and its only now, nine hours into this that really his demands, his message is actually getting out there. Well, hopefully they do have a plan, theyre working on this to figure out how to bring it to a successful conclusion. But so far, again, no one has been hurt. So thank goodness for that. We want to talk now on the phone with tiffany gender. Shes a Police Reporter with 2gb radio. Several of the hostages called into that Radio Station. So tiffany, what more can you add as far as what these hostages were relaying . What was their demeanor . What information did they give you about their situation . Well, basically, that line of communication opened up quite early is this morning. One of the men from inside the building, the lindt cafe, actually called one of our announcers on air, and they took a conversation off air. It was decided it was not really appropriate for that conversation to be going on air, a lot of sensitive information. And basically, it was identified that he was a hostage inside and that he wanted to speak to Prime Minister tony abbott live on air, a live onair interview. Now, of course that demand was not met. Negotiators have been to that 2gb Radio Station all day. Weve been fielding a lot of calls from people inside the building, from Family Members of people inside the building. Who are just listening to this ordeal i guess play out on the radio. So lets get this straight. So people inside that cafe, inside that coffee shop, have had the ability to get on their cell phones and just call in
whenever they want . Thats exactly right. Many of them have been on social media. One hostage in particular has posted a very horrifying message on social media with a list of the demands. And they have also been texting family and friends from the inside to say look, i am inside, i am okay at the moment, these are the demands, and if theyre not met, you know, threats to kill and, you know, some other very horrible threats have been made against the group. Interesting, isnt it, that this gunman didnt take their phones away. Theyre sitting there texting whomever they want, it seems, and presumably they could reach out to the police or be texting with the police. We just dont know, do we . Youre right. It is bizarre. This whole thing is playing out on facebook, twitter, you know, through radio announcers. It is a very bizarre situation. And police have actually
mobilized a Special Task Force which is only mobilized during an act of terrorism. So basically, that allows i guess mobilizes the huge amount of resources that they have. It allows police to share more information with authorities, with azo and the federal government. Police have just held a Press Conference and have said they are actively trolling through facebook and twitter to get information, you know. A lot of these the hostages are Posting Information on their facebook pages. That is one avenue that police are actually getting their information from. I guess the assumption could be this is a deliberate ploy maybe this gunman has taken to get the word out because what weve been talking about for many, many hours now is what they want here is publicity. They want the megaphone so they can have their voice heard, their demands met. And one lady much like the 9 11 hijackers allowed the people on the plane to call their loved ones to tell them the plane had been hijacked. They werent worried about that because they knew the plane was going to crash. So in a similar way this guy with the gun is letting people get this same horrific message out. Thats exactly right. And that is fueling the fear and that is fueling their message. And Police Actually asked us to stop reporting those demands because it is really fueling hysteria and it is putting their message out there. And that was their objective. And what more have you been able to learn about the gunman, tiffiny, through these conversations . As your reporter mentioned earlier, police are keeping very tightlipped on the operational information. They have not even been able to confirm how many hostages are
inside. From what i understand personally, and thats speaking to sources, that police know who the gunmans they know who theyre dealing with and they are aware of his identity. But as far as any publicly released details about that gunman, nothing is being released. Well, we can understand that because now at least we know they know who theyre dealing with and theyve got a tactic to try to figure out how to deal with this person. But it is really bizarre that hostages are sitting there posting pictures making Telephone Calls and posting on social media. Tiffiny gender the Police Reporter with radio 2gb giving us some very valuable information about what has actually been happening there all day long. She works at the same Radio Station as ray hadley. He has spoken to the suspect as well via at least one of the hostages, a 23yearold man who actually managed to call on his cell phone into rays radio show, and a short time ago we spoke with ray. Ive just come off a ninehour shift. I normally do nine till midday. And we kept going because i made contact with the hostages. They found my program. Obviously i didnt want to put them to air, so i took their calls off air. And at the same time could hear the Hostage Taker giving the young man who spoke to me, a 23yearold, instructions on what he wanted to do. Whats now been revealed by your reporter and others, that he wanted the i. C. E. Flag, he wanted a conversation with the Prime Minister or hed start to dispose of hostages. I spoke to our Police Commissioner, our police chief, the equivalent here in New South Wales where sydney is the capital, and spoke to him, spoke to our premier, which is a bit like your governor. And they told me off air it would be best if we didnt report those matters. I kept in contact with the young man. He gave me his mobile. And we had four conversations off air. Between about midday and 3 00. And then i felt troubled by his tone. So i asked the police to supply me with a negotiator. I didnt feel equipped to keep talking with him because im not a trained negotiator. Im a radio broadcaster. So the negotiator arrived here and i went off air about 20 minutes ago, about quarter past 6 00 at night our time on monday night, and the negotiators are still dealing with him. As youve been told, five people have escaped. They werent released. Three gentlemen, one of them a worker from inside the lindt cafe, and then two young ladies who are also workers escaped as well. And Police Continue their negotiations. Theyre dealing with a lunatic. Theyre dealing way person whos making outrageous claims. He wants to be he wants the government to acknowledge that this is a terrorist operation, that hes doing this on behalf of isis or isil. And the government at this particular stage are treating terrorists as youd treat any terrorist in any part of the world, theyre doing their best to secure the safety of the hostages without meeting his demands. Just explain how the process works. You got this phone call from this 23yearold man, this hostage which was being who
was being held inside the cafe there. And then he relayed what the guy with the gun was saying. He told you and you responded and he said it to the gunman . I could hear the gunman. Well, first of all, we were a bit skeptical, as you would be, getting a phone call to your open line saying im a hostage. Can i talk to ray on air. And so i made an editorial decision that i wouldnt talk to him on air because i was fearful that i may have been duped or that i might put people at risk. So i came off air during a threeminute Commercial Break and spoke to the young man. I thn rang him back and confirmed he was in fact a hostage. I spoke to police and they had a list of some hostages and his name was one of the hostages. His name was given to me by the young man. I was talking to him and in the background i could hear the Hostage Taker issue instructions about wanting to talk to the Prime Minister, calling me a scumbag, calling the media generally scumbags for incorrectly reporting isil as
being a group of people who are murderous bastards who have no regard for human life. So i heard all this in the background. I went back on air. I didnt report what id been told. I just said i had a phone call from a hostage and i contacted police which i did do. Then he called me again and left his numbers and asked me to call him. I went to a news break and rang him again 37 this happened three times. And as i say, at the end of three or four conversations, these demands were still being made, that he wanted to talk to the the Hostage Taker wanted to talk to the Prime Minister, mr. Abbott. I then said to police i need someone over here with a bit of expertise. A negotiator came over and started to take the calls. And since then hes had conversations with another four or five hostages through the course of the last two hours. Ray, you said you could hear the gunman in the background making these demands. Can you describe what he sounded like . Yeah. Thats what i was wondering. Weighs he unhinged . Was he yelling . What kind of accent he had. He had a Middle Eastern accent with an australian tinge. He was obviously someone originally from that part of the world, be it iran or syria or somewhere else over there. And you know, we have been a country like your country very welcoming of people from that part of the world. We have a long tradition of lebanese christians coming to australia, particularly of the maronite variety, over a long period of time and more recently people of the muslim faith coming here. And the vast majority of them are peaceful, hardworking, decent people who want to mac a better life for themselves. But we have these radicals highlighted by this lunatic who still has somewhere between 12 and 25 people being held hostage. The police know, john, how many people are in there but they wont release details to the media. Five have escaped, but we know originally there was somewhere between 15 and perhaps 30. Sow take a guess, its either 10 people in there or 25 people. We dont know. You say he threatened to dispose of hostages. Im making the assumption he threatened to kill them. Well, thats what he was
saying. Police negotiators told me the fact that we are now into the ninth hour and no ones been hurt or injured would indicate that this is someone they can deal with, if you know what i mean. Ray hadley there, a radio host on radio 3gb in sydney. He is one of the most listened to programs in the country. Hes a very popular radio announcer. For the number one talk station in sydney. And i believe across australia, really. And he had a number of conversations with a hostage in there which hes detailing to us. But it is now appearing to be a very bizarre situation, that were learning more details, that many of the hostages in there have been able to use their telephones to call out, to post on social media, to tweet, to post photographs or demands, whatever, on facebook as well. All of this apparently being allowed by the gunman. Right. And all the while, according to the radio, the same Radio Station, he alleges he has two bombs. Thats right. Inside the cafe. Inside the cafe. And another two bombs hidden somewhere in the area. The police have had nothing to say about that. But a short while ago we did hear from the Deputy Commissioner of the New South Wales police and she updated the situation, but she stayed clear. She continues to stay clear of confirming any specific numbers on how many people are still inside. Here she is. I put out that plea and that message. If anybody does have information, please let us know. Its really important that you pass it on. Because even the smallest snippet of information might be vital. There are hostages inside who are posting on facebook and social media some of the demands that the gunmans making. How are you responding to that . I know operationally that you need to keep some things under wrap, but its out there for everybody to see. Look, absolutely right. And we are monitoring what is happening on facebook clearly. We are monitoring what is happening on twitter. And that is forming a part of
our Tactical Response in how to handle this. Yes, that is out there. And we are aware of that. What has he told negotiators . Thats not something i can talk about, what he might be telling negotiators. But the contact that we have will be ongoing. And it will be based on our best assessment about how to get those people out safely, which is what does count most. Some of the hostages are talking about is he making the same demands to police or is he trying to use the media to make those demands . I think that theres probably a number of mediums that are being used at the moment. But we all have to be very careful not to completely overreact at this time because it is still ongoing. But it is important to reiterate that we are aware of that. We are monitoring it. And we are using that as a part of our strategy. Why Couldnt He Have said how many are still inside . Its not something i can confirm at the moment, and its not particularly useful to actually confirm potential numbe numbers. For people who we might be dealing with who might have concerns that a friend or a relative or a loved one might be in that building, we have set up our nb[ inaudible ]. How many maybe inside. That is a tactical, operational imperative. Why is that so sensitive . Because at this Point Everything has to be about the safety of the people in the location. So its important we dont confirm at this point. Thats catherine burn, the Deputy Police commissioner for New South Wales speaking a short time ago, give us a little bit of new information, which was essentially what weve heard from a number of people of the demands being listed on twitter
and facebook by the hostages inside. What was interesting was she couldnt bring herself to call the people being held hostages. He had stopped herself from saying that. We should note its coming up on 7 25 p. M. Local time in sydney. All of this has been going on for nine hours and 40 minutes. Were coming up to our tenth hour. And want to point out this video were seeing right here, that is the gunman and weve also should h. Video as you know of the hostages putting their haunds on the glass. That was much earlier. That was hours ago before police cleared off a wider area and had the media pulled back and not even sure how we got this picture. And the few details that we do know, again, coming from our afwilts who have been working their sources in sydney. Apparently, the gunman inside there likes to be known as the brother. Thats what we know about him. And that he is in his 40s. Ray hadley, the radio host who actually heard him speaking, says the gunman speaks with a Middle Eastern accent. With an australian with an australian tinge. Thats what we know. And weve also been told police know who theyre dealing with, but theyre not letting us know that. Earlier we spoke with roger shanahan. Hes a former Australian Army colonel. Hes a middle east expert and a fellow at the middle east center for policy. He thinks the Hostage Taker chose his location for maximum international impact. Heres his comments. Its going to be very difficult obviously to determine what the whole purpose of this was until we find out more about the Hostage Taker, but i think the fact that the cafe in question is directly opposite one of the Major Television stations in sydney, its done right in nearly the dead center of australias largest city in the Central Business district, all of these point to the fact that the person in question wanted maximum exposure not only nationally but internationally. And putting up that flag with
sh shahada on it even though its not specifically the same as any islamist organizations flags, its certainly a replica or a variation on a theme. So i think all of these together indicate the person in question wants a great deal of Media Attention placed on this. Whether thats because he holds these beliefs or he has some kind of mental issue we wont know until the siege is over. What if that is in fact the case, that this is just a guy who is essentially suffering from some kind of Mental Derangement and hes grabbed this flag to try to get this attention and he has very little to do with isis . Well, its going to be the fact that either way hes got little to do with isis 37 but the kernel is that isis in the past has called for these kind of individual attacks against
people. They said it in the past. And also in australia. So the concern is that this kind of flag in concert with the fact that he appears to be an individual doing it in such a public way. You think that might be his expression of his belief in what isis stands for. But as you pointed out, it could also well be possible that hes somebody with mental issues. Should we have heard any kind of statement from i. C. E. At tsi point . Theyre very active on twitter, social media, they love to get their memorandum out. Has there been any kind of support support for this guy . Claim of responsibility is probably a stretch. But any kind of message that this guy is one of ours . You pronl wouldnt expect to see Something Like that until after the situation is resolved. You would assume if hes done this hes done this off his own bat, so its not quite a limited
degree of professionalism in what hes doing, so you would assume hes doing it off his own bat, and you would assume therefore the media branch of isis is probably playing catchup on this issue and theyd wait to see how it resolves itself before they make some kind of proclamation as to whether they support it or what they want to spin out of this situation. Is it possible to know how many other people like this guy are actually in australia right now . No, its very difficult. Police and Security Forces for obvious reasons are quite cagey about what they say. What we do know is that in terms of figures theres been about 20 australians killed as foreign fighters overseas. Its believed there are about 70 over there currently active. About 20 have returned after having fought. And theres been approximately
60 or more passports of people of concern that have been canceled by the australian government, stopping them from leaving the country. How many people have concern like this if thats what this person is . That kind of information is only known at the highest levels of the security services. And hello to everyone, to our viewers in the u. S. And around the world, we continue to bring you breaking news out of australia. Im natalie allen. And im john vause. Thank you for staying with us. Its now 3 30 in the morning on the east coast, 7 30 in the evening on a Monday Night In Sydney where a gunman is Still Holding a number of hostages at the lindt coffee shop in the very heart of sydneys business district. Sky News Australia has reported that the Hostage Taker has identified himself as the brother. Hes reportedly used his hostages to contact three Media Outlets. The government has three demands. Phone call with australias Prime Minister. He also wants an isis flag. Thats according to media
reports. Throughout this ordeal five hostages, youre about to see the first three, managed to get out. Three men running out right there. Two people who were just visiting the coffee shop and then an employee of the coffee shop comes out of another door. Not the one that police that you see there standing behind. Suddenly the door just bangs open and he comes out running. We believe the guy who comes out is in fact one of the workers because theres a combination of workers and customers who are being held hostage. And there he is. That was many, many hours ago. And of course they were debriefed by police after they got out. Two women, heres the first one. Also ran out a short time later. All five hostages reportedly escaped. Thats not coming from the police. Thats coming from other reports from the cafe. They were not released. What is not clear, almost ten
hours after this all this began, how many hostages remain inside. Lets go to cnns anna coren. Shes been with us for many hours. Shes standing out near just a block or so away from the scene. Anna, anything new . Reporter no, natalie. Were just waiting for more information from police. At this stage this is as far as we can go. Were on mcquarry street. Anybody whos been to the city here in sydney before would have aware this is a very busy street. Were about a block from that lindt cafe where the gunman is holding up several hostages. We dont know how many. We know as youve reported that five have managed to get away. We dont know if they have escaped or if they were released. However, we do know that Police Negotiators are in touch with him. That is being confirmed. That dialogue ongoing. And hopefully this will be resolved peacefully. But certainly for now the entire area like blocks in all directions are cordoned off. Hundreds of police here on the scene. And then there have also been a number of Police Snipers who we have seen as well. As you can see behind me, a row of ambulances lined up. Obviously on standby in case anything were to go wrong. But certainly an unfolding situation. A tense situation has people very much on high alert and very concerned that this could happen here in sydney. Anna, just for our viewers who are outside of australia who are not familiar with martin place. I think the best way to describe it, this is an ongoing siege in an area of sydney which would be like times square in new york, for instance. This is pretty much in the heart
of the city. Reporter yeah, absolutely in the heart of the city. There in martin place you have the reserve bank of australia. You have other financial institutions. You have the u. S. Consulate. Yove the 7 Network Australia located opposite this lindt cafe. So youd have to assume that the gunman chose his target very carefully. He wanted that exposure. He wanted the world to watch. Police have now evacuated the entire area. Hundreds of staff. We spoke to some of them a little earlier. Streams were coming out from beneath the police tape. Asking how it all unfolded this morning. They were told they had to keep away from the glass, from the windows, in case there were any bombs, any explosions, if the gunman started firing. And then they waited for police to escort and evacuate them from these buildings. But as i say, people are fearful that this could take place. Obviously, there have been many raids anywhere australia over the past few months. Terrorrelated raids. Police trying to get on top of the situations. Doing a great deal of intelligence gathering and foiling many attacks. But there have been many arrests. We know australia has been atarget. But its another thing for it to actually be happening. Yes, and its been interesting to hear both of you since youre australian talk about the fact that this does not happen in australia. You can even hardly find a gun in australia, anna. And this person was able to do this. And the people in australia have now been caught up in a situation that sadly in the United States we see almost on any day, some sort of Hostage Situation with a gunman. Yeah, thats absolutely right, natalie. Australias gun laws are just so strict here. And to think that somebody could
actually walk into a cafe in the middle of the city armed with a gun with other weapons is frightening because it doesnt happen, as you say. And the last time that we really, you know, i guess felt the impact of terrorism other than it happening to australians overseas was in bali back in 2002, when there were the bombings and there were 88 australians that were killed in that attack. But its another thing for it to be unfolding here on the streets of sydney. Australia clearly involved in the war against isis. Hundreds of troops over in iraq helping to train the kurdish and iraqi forces. We have australian fighter jets involved in the aggressive air campaign. Threats have been made against australia. Threats have been made against martin place in recent weeks. But as i say, for this to be
happening, unfolding on the streets of sydney here in the heart of sydney is certainly very unnerving. Yes. I can imagine unnerving for the people inside that coffee shop right now. So many hours. They are still in there. We dont even know how many. With this man. Thank you so much, anna coren for us live there in sydney. Miles godfrey is a political reporter for the daily telegraph. And he joins us now. Hes been at the Hostage Scene all day, and he is now on the phone. Miles, most of the information were getting has been coming from reporters who talked with hostages in there, whove been been contacted. Were not getting a lot of information at all from police. What do you know . What have you heard as far as who this person is, his demands, and how many people might still be in that coffee shop . Yeah, good evening, guys. And good evening to your viewers. The latest information that we have is there are still a number of hostages obviously involved that are still in this cafe. The initial reports we got this morning were there were around 13 hostages being held. That number has crept up very slightly. And we think the latest information we have is there might be around 15. In terms of the perpetrator here, i dont think its too helpful to speculate at moment as to who he is or where hes actually from. We dont actually yet know his motives apart from the obvious banner that he has put in the cafe. That would hint at a sort of background as to where hes coming from. Nevertheless, it pears hes acting alone and he is acting in terms of sort of his mental state perhaps not from a very good place. But the thing you have to remember with all of this is
that it is not actually its not actually come as a huge surprise to many here in sydney. You may or may not know that we had a series of terrorism raids across the western area of sydney just a few months ago in september. And that actually led to a raising of the Terror Level Threat here across australia from medium to high. The central part of that raid in september was an allegation that was later reported that there was a plot to kidnap someone from this very spot, from martin place. The allegation that was widely reported was that once that person was kidnapped they were going to be beheaded. Now, the washout from that was a lot of people actually cast doubt on these claims and said was that really a reality, was that something that really could happen here in central sydney . And i think what weve seen today is very much it is. We are living very much with the threat of terrorism on our doorstep. And miles, my understanding is one of the demands that the gunman has made is essentially he wants the world to know that australia is under attack by isis. And it seems that one of the reasons why police will not declare this a Terrorist Incident is because they dont want to give in to that demand. Is that a fair reading . I think it is. And were seeing right now at this very moment actually reports coming through that the hostages who are being held in this cafe have throughout the day been contacting a number of organizations, not to mention the national broadcaster. My understanding is theyve been ringing these organizations under the demands of the Hostage Taker and making a number of
not least to bring an isis flag to the cafe and also a demand for the Hostage Taker to be allowed to speak to the Prime Minister perhaps on the national Radio Station, Something Like that. Now, a lot of the Media Organizations that have received these demands are refusing to air them. Some have, and thats how we know how theyve come about. But some of the broadcasters are actually refusing to pass on that information. And that is a direct result because they dont want to be seen to be assisting this guy, this madman, i guess, whos taken people hostage and is holding them under a siege. Do you have any indication, miles, at this point as evening sets on in australia how long police are willing to wait this out. Have there been any changes in the scene there . Have you heard anything about are they allowing anything in,
anything out . Food, electricity ongoing. Is there any kind of informat n information . I know its very hard to get. But anything like that youre hearing. Actually the assistant Police Commissioner here, catherine burn, who heads up the sort of Terrorism Side i guess of the New South Wales police 230rss, just in a Press Conference in the last few minutes actually and they said they will be there for as long as they need be. And you wouldnt expect any less of any police force anywhere in the world. Not least of all the New South Wales police force, which is incredibly professional and incredibly capable as well. Theyll thereby as long as they need to be. Weve got lives on the line here. Theyre not going to be taking any shortcuts. Theyre not going to be trying to end this quickly, by sort of pushing the situation or anything like that. In terms of food and that sort of thing being passed into the cafe, ive not actually seen any
going in there. By the very nature of the premises its a cafe, you would think there would be some adequate splierksz food and water at the very least, to keep these people going. Its a very interesting point because it raises the question how long will this actually go on . And now were in the 10th or perhaps the 11th hour of the siege that began around sort of 9 45, 10 00 a. M. Sydney time. Its a very interesting question. All of australia and probably all of the world is surrounding their tvs this evening or whatever time of day it is in your part of the world and watching this unfold and were all asking that question. When will this end . How long will it go for . And praying there is a speedy resolution and a safe resolution. And we certainly hope negotiators are talking with this person to try to talk him out of whatever else he wants. We do not know how long it
will go but we know how long it has gone. Almost ten hours now since that gunman first walked into that coffee shop. That chocolate coffee shop. The lindt coffee shop there in martin place in sydney armed with at least some dined of shotgun and took everybody inside hostage. And in the past few hours weve seen at least five people manage to escape. Theres also been communication with the hostages inside by a number of Media Organizations. But the police rin sifting the area is secure and theyll wait him out. And of course it is now turning into night in sydney. All this happening in the very heart of the city. Chris reason be a reporter with 7 News Australia was at the scene for hours. His newsroom is across from the cafe. Listen to how he can describe what he can see from his position. Lets start with what we can see of the gunman. He has been clearly identifiable
through these last few hours as he paces his way back and forth affront of the four plate glass windows that link cafe. Hes wearing a white shirt, a black cap, hes unshaven and hes carrying what appears to be a pump action shotgun. That gun almost coming into the frame of the windows, often close and menacingly close to the hostages themselves. Lets talk about them, mel. Weve counted so far 15 different faces being forced up against the windows over these last eight, nine hours. Not the 50 that had been speculated earlier. I think that number is wildly inaccurate. Were talking about that number, 15 people, combination of men and women and young people but thankfully no children involved as far as we can tell from our Vantage Point up here. Now, you can the ghan seems to be rotating these people through the positions at the windows with their hands and faces up against the glass. One woman we counted was there for at least two hours. An extraordinary, agonizing time for her surely, having to stand
on her feet for that long. Some of them have got their heads in their hands like this as theyre standing in the windows, mel. Others look so vibly upset. One whom whose eyes were bloodshot red, obviously been crying her eyes out for some time, who knows whats been going through their minds these last few hours . Just a terrifying ordeal for them. And ive got to speculate here but would have been even more terrifying two hours ago when we saw the rush of escapees. We saw at this Vantage Point the gunman got extremely agitated as he realized those five had got out. He started screaming orders at the people inside. The hostages remain behind extremely agitated. We didnt see anything more than that. And we cant swing our camera around from this position to show you those windows directly live, mel. The police have been good enough let us get up here. Were not going into the fehr with their tactical operations
by doing that. But theres a little bit of detail about what can be seen at this time in the siege. That was before they evacuated the network and well, actually, what they have done is i think the timing on that is that they did evacuate the network and the police took over that building because it is line of sight directly across from the coffee shop. Chris mentioned right at the end they did allow them back in to make that report. I see. But hundreds of people who work at channel 7 in that building. Most of those people, pretty much all of them had in fact been evacuated. We saw earlier tonight we were broadcasting from their melbourne studios because they had to leave their sydney studios. And they were the First Network to give us these pictures youre seeing here of people in the windows and also of the suspected gunman. Reporter glenn conley describes what he saw. Reporter our camera was trained on the front door of the lindt cafe, and we had quite a long lens on the color. We were able to see right 234. What we saw is nothing short of terrifying. He was using one of the employees of the lindt cafe as a human shield as he moved between what appeared to be two groups of hostages. The first group in the front window that we had seen looking across from the 7 newsroom from the very moment this began but also another group further into the cafe which led to speculation perhaps there was more than one gunman. At various times he was going backwards and forwards with his hand on the back or back of the neck of this Lindt Cafe Employee as he moved the hostages around. We did see other hostages there. In particular a middleaged woman in a white top who was very, very distressed. She was wiping her eyes, wiping her nose, and at one stage went to wipe her eyes and was obviously yeltd at by the gunman, her hands went straight back up in the air. She was visibly upset. Weve seen that. Particularly with the faces of those who escaped. The terror in their eyes as they reached the moment of safety was something unforgettable. Certainly agree with that. Glenn conley there with channel 7 australia giving . Good details of what happened in the last couple hours or so. And youve been saying, and anna coren is from australia as well, our reporter there, that this is the first time australia has seen a Hostage Situation like this. Its the Terrorism Dimension as well which makes this so different. Earlier we heard from david mallen, associate director of the Melbourne School of government. He told us the government has been ramping up security in the country for quite some time. Here he is. It has been a very big concern for the past few months. At least for the government. Im not sure its been the case for the general public. There was a planned attack in the same part of Sydney Martin place a couple months ago. It led haveto very tough antistror laws being passed. Tougher in some ways than in the u. S. You can go to prison for an extended period simply for traveling to iraq and syria
without permission. A lot like the patriot act after. 95 pv. Theres been a threat here but like some of the people you had the interviews for a few minutes ago, a lot of australians feel this is a safe country, nothing happens, the police are on it. And the threat comes with these lone wolves that dont necessarily have chatter that can be picked up and eventually luck runs out because the police have to be right every single time. . Very true. Very hard to stop someone who walks into a coffee shop with a shotgun. Its a low technology, highimpact attack and theyre the hardest ones to stop. Americans in sydney, meantimev been warned about the ongoing situation there in market place. The consulate, which has been evacuated, issued this statement a short time ago. U. S. Citizens are strongly encouraged to review your personal security plan, remain aware of your surroundings including local events, and monitor local News Stations for updates. Maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to enhance your personal security. Good advice, not just for u. S. Citizens who happen to be in sydney for pretty much for everyone who is there. Concerning this situation ongoing in the world. Witnesses to Whats Going On there at the cafe say australians are wandering around the streets with looks of disbelief. Listen to what some people had to say near the scene. Kind of a bit weird. Like ive never seen anything like this happen. Like its probably the first time in australian history that something this major in regards to a Terrorist Threat has happened. It is worrying me, actually. As you know, as me as a muslim i feel because it dont represent me. And if he think that hes a muslim hes doing the right thing, then hes very bad. Because thats not us. Thats not the muslims doing this. Thats why im worrying. If he think that he is what hes doing is islam then hes definitely wrong and everyone has to stand against him. People in australia shocked about Whats Going On. Weve been reporting that the hostages have been able to use their cell phones and theyve been involved in social media throughout this deal. People on social media throughout the world have been reacting to the Hostage Situation for hours. Many tweeting about it using the sydney siege. Many hoping for a peaceful resolution. One Person Writing Hope that sydney siege at martin place will end peacefully. Please remember that islam is not a crime, extremism is. They arent the same. Another tweeting more innocent lives at Stake Spilling of innocent blood is not what allah taught us. Pray for those captured in the sydney siege. The Prime Minister a few hours after this began addressed the nation. He encouraged everyone to stay calm. He said this is an ongoing operation and that australians should go about their business, not to be interfered with if you like by what is happening in martin place, not to be affected by it. This is some of what tony abbott had to say. I just want to make a short statement on the Hostage Incident in martin place in sydney. New South Wales Police responding. They are being strongly supported by commonwealth agencies. We dont yet know the motivation of the perpetrator. We dont know whether this is politically motivated. Although obviously there are some indications that this could be. We have to appreciate that even in a society such as ours there are people who would wish to do us arm. Thats why we have police and Security Organizations of the utmost professionalism that are ready and able to respond to our whole range of situations and contingencies including the situation that we are now seeing in sydney. The whole point of politically
motivated violence is to scare people out of being themselves. Australia is a peaceful, open, and generous society. Nothing should ever change that. And thats why i would urge all australians today to go about their business as usual. Of course if anyone does have any suspicions of untoward activity there is the National Security hotline, 1800123400. Which i would urge them to call. I can let you know that the National Security committee of the cabinet has been briefed on this incident. Ive been in regular contact with premier baird over the course of the last couple of hours. Ive been briefed by Commissioner Schipione of the New South Wales police and by Commissioner Calvin of the Australian Federal police. This is an unfolding situation, and as the situation unfolds there will be operational updates provided by the New South Wales police. I want to assure people that the ordinary business of government must go on and it will go on and thats why Treasurer Hawkey and finance minister corman will shortly be releasing the Midyear Economic and fiscal outlook as planned. Finally, this is a very disturbing incident. I can understand the concerns and anxieties of the australian people at a time like this. But our thoughts and prayers must above all go out to the individuals who are caught up in this. I can think of almost nothing more distressing, more terrifying than to be caught up in such a situation. And our hearts go out to those people. [ inaudible ]. Im going to leave it to the New South Wales police, who are in operational charge of this incident, to provide those kinds of details. Obviously, in a situation like this all sorts of reports fly around. All sorts of claims are made. So i do urge everyone to exercise caution in their reporting, but i will leave all the operational details to the New South Wales police, who as i understand it will begin providing operational updates shortly. Thank you. Australias Prime Minister tony abbott speaking a number of hours ago when this situation was first unfolding. And as he did say there, the New South Wales police would be
providing some operational details. We have learned a lot more about what has been going on in sydney over the last ten hours or so. We understand theres more than a dozen people being held hostage inside this cafe, that the guy with the gun has made contact with three Media Organizations, making a number of demands. Among them he wants an isis flag, he wants contact with the man you just saw there, tony abbott, the australian Prime Minister. Hes also making these claims that there are two explosive devices, two bombs inside the cafe none of that confirmed. Yeah. Somewhere in the cbd. Weve also seen over the course of the last few hours five people managing to escape from inside this cafe. Yeah, we have. And we have the compelling pictures of the women who left the building with the lindt apron. Five total. We still dont know how they were able to get out. Most reports are they escaped. It wasnt a negotiation release. We dont know. Although tony abbott said the police would bring us an update, they are not forthcoming. They like to control the situation as best they can. All is taking place in the Lindt Chocolate coffee shop. It is a popular place in the morning, especially when the siege began. The company put a statement out on facebook and addressed the situation. It read in part we would like to thank everyone for this kind support for the situation at the Lindt Chocolate cafe at martin place. We are deeply concerned over this serious incident and our thoughts and prayers are with the staff and customers involved and all of their friends and families. We dont know how many people left in the coffee shop are workers or employees of the
lindt company or people who were just stopping to get coffee. We know it is a mixture of both staff and customers who are still being held hostage. We did get some details from the police that negotiators had made contact with the gunman. Those negotiations are continuing. They are working out who this guy is. We have been told by our affiliates in australia they know who this man is, but not releasing details. This guy is an aspirational jihadist who wants to be linked to isis in some way. There have been messages of support from the canadian Prime Minister and the u. S. President barack obama has been briefed. We will continue to report on the interesting aspect that the gunman has had reach out to the media. The hostages reached out to the media. We will continue our coverage