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 that s 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. i m natalie allen. and i m john vause. thank you for staying with us. it s 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 sydney s business district. sky news australia has reported that the hostage taker has identified himself as the brother. he s reportedly used his hostages to contact three media outlets. the government has three demands. phone call with australia s prime minister. he also wants an isis flag. that s accord
monday night in sydney, australia. this hostage taking with at least overtones of isis or islamist terrorism continues. so far luckily, no casualties. it happened at a busy cafe in the center of sydney monday morning australia time. a man with a shotgun walked in, took at least 13 people it is reported hostage. hostages have been seen at the window, also a flag with islamic declaration of faith. there has been claims bombs placed around the cafe and the downtown area of sydney, but no confirmation of that. so far, five people have escaped and the gunman has reportedly made demands. et cetera a real isis flag, we are told, as well as a talk with australian prime minister tony abbott. it is a massive police effort around this thing. swat teams surrounding the cafe, evacuating the downtown area. officials say they re treating it like a terrorist act. but there are not but they are not calling it terror. it could be a lone wolf
we ve been reporting that the hostages have been able to use their cell phones and they ve 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 aren t 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.
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 don t 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. he s been at the hostage scene all day, and he is now on the phone. miles, most of the information we re getting has been coming from reporters who talked with hostages in there, who ve been been contacted. we re 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
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