Hostages Taken in Martin Place

[robd]

Re: The totally off-topic thread

erkpod would like to report that his first trip around the City Circle was quiet, uneventful & on time. Much less people than usual at stations.

Time to do it again & then off to suburbia.

View attachment 38922

An extraordinary day in Sydney city today though, Erkpod. Uneventful?

 

[JohnK]

It is very true that nothing was done to stop it. In fact, Australia cultivated a red neck paradise of bigotry and hatred. A fools' paradise.

LOL again medhead.

You are right. Lots of bigotry and hatred in Australia. But sadly you are mistakenly accusing the wrong people.

Answer this question please. Why would you come to live in a country where all you do is criticise the culture and it's people?

 

[medhead]

Re: The totally off-topic thread

They escaped. It has now been confirmed as a Terror Incident. One woman rang 2GB and her son is a hostage. How she can even bare to speak is beyond me. Apparently there are some very unwell people inside.

I'm not seeing anywhere that has confirmed it as a terror incident. The closest I've seen is a statement that it is consistent with a terror attack. The problem is there are elements that are inconsistent as well.

A flag that is generic rather than specific to a particular group. Maybe someone has just grabbed a flag that looks Islamic.

The thing is dragging on much longer than other incidents.

No media strategy. No communication with demands. Ringing a radio station with a vocal anti-Islamic position.

Those all suggest one alternative. Then what about a family dispute? Releasing people who aren't part of the domestic situation.

 

[robd]

It seems a bit amateurish, the fact that 5 have escaped, if indeed that is the case.

 

[Pushka]

I heard that the Police had raised it to Terrorist level. Media beat up maybe but the same media was saying it wasn't called that earlier. It was announced after the three left so seemed it could have substance.

Would be "good" if it was a domestic. But surely that would have been announced after quizzing those who were out.

Abbott has updated by stating its politically motivated. And gunman wants to speak to Abbott.

 

[Pushka]

Re: The totally off-topic thread

An extraordinary day in Sydney city today though, Erkpod. Uneventful?

Maybe his route hasn't been effected and he doesn't know what's happened?

 

[whatmeworry]

Tabloid journalism.

 

[moa999]

Uber offer only because they have been slammed for putting on a 4x surcharge, min $100 earlier in the day. Now saying they will refund these rides

 

[robd]

Re: The totally off-topic thread

Maybe his route hasn't been effected and he doesn't know what's happened?

Erkpod posted in the other thread re SYD siege. Perhaps I misunderstood, but I thought he meant that he didn't have to stop at Martin Place, and that the City Circle (inc. Martin Pl.) was very quiet???

 

[medhead]

I heard that the Police had raised it to Terrorist level. Media beat up maybe but the same media was saying it wasn't called that earlier. It was announced after the three left so seemed it could have substance.

Would be "good" if it was a domestic. But surely that would have been announced after quizzing those who were out.

Abbott has updated by stating its politically motivated. And gunman wants to speak to Abbott.

Well all terrorism is politically motivated. but anyway,

Look, I can't say what I'm thinking here. But there is a fundamental difference in most previous attacks. Think the Nigerian shopping mall. Those nut bags are motivated by death. I'll leave that there.

 

[Pushka]

Well all terrorism is politically motivated. but anyway,

Look, I can't say what I'm thinking here. But there is a fundamental difference in most previous attacks. Think the Nigerian shopping mall. Those nut bags are motivated by death. I'll leave that there.

But you were just querying why I posted I had heard it had been raised to terrorist related. The Abbott comment was an after comment. Not sure your point.

I don't consider there are any parallels to anything that has happened prior. We know nothing about the person's motivation yet.

 

[medhead]

LOL again medhead.

You are right. Lots of bigotry and hatred in Australia. But sadly you are mistakenly accusing the wrong people.

Answer this question please. Why would you come to live in a country where all you do is criticise the culture and it's people?

Bigotry and hatred are to be criticised at every opportunity. It is that simple.

But you've raised an interesting question. Why do you go to Queensland? All you do is criticise the culture and people. Good enough for you, but not others?

Of course being a democracy we are all allowed to criticise this country. That is the key difference between North Korea or the places many muslim people have escaped and a democracy like Australia. Perhaps if you don't like it you could move to a country where people don't criticise the country.

But that gets me onto my final point. Your question needs a significant modification. It should be:

When you've escaped a country where you were forced to watch your children turned into a human shish-kebab, or where your 12 year old daughter was shot for reading a book, to arrive in a Australia on the promise of a fair go; why wouldn't you criticise the bigots that call you a terrorist? Why wouldn't you criticise the people who accuse you of being the same as the people who destroyed your life and family? The people who would deny you freedom of expression and belief, while demanding those rights for themselves. Why wouldn't you criticise this utter hypocrisy.

 

[medhead]

But you were just querying why I posted I had heard it had been raised to terrorist related. The Abbott comment was an after comment. Not sure your point.

I don't consider there are any parallels to anything that has happened prior. We know nothing about the person's motivation yet.

I'm saying that abbott is stating the blindly obvious. That most actions, by a range of people, can be labelled terrorism.

I was questioning where you heard of the update. I haven't seen such an update. As I said the closest I've heard is consistent with terrorism, which is not the same as terrorism.

My point is there are no parallels to other attacks by the suspect groups. If this was one of the suspect terror groups then the situation might probably be very different. It is possible that we know the person's motivation isn't typical islamic terrorism.

 

[BAM1748]

Re: The totally off-topic thread

I'm not seeing anywhere that has confirmed it as a terror incident. The closest I've seen is a statement that it is consistent with a terror attack. The problem is there are elements that are inconsistent as well.

A flag that is generic rather than specific to a particular group. Maybe someone has just grabbed a flag that looks Islamic.

The thing is dragging on much longer than other incidents.

No media strategy. No communication with demands. Ringing a radio station with a vocal anti-Islamic position.

Those all suggest one alternative. Then what about a family dispute? Releasing people who aren't part of the domestic situation.

Robbery doesn't seem to be the motive, unless the robber is a complete fool, the flag is written in Arabic.

Holding hostages is terrorism even if for ransom. Although police seemed to be around Circular Quay/Rocks looking for something, checked garbage bins, under trees and shrubs.

 

[under the radar]

Re: The totally off-topic thread

Australia is no longer the island in the middle of nowhere

 

[whatmeworry]

Re: The totally off-topic thread

Robbery doesn't seem to be the motive, unless the robber is a complete fool, the flag is written in Arabic.

Holding hostages is terrorism even if for ransom. Although police seemed to be around Circular Quay/Rocks looking for something, checked garbage bins, under trees and shrubs.

Some Terrorists set off a small bomb or diversions then later set off the main bomb.`

 

[medhead]

Re: The totally off-topic thread

Robbery doesn't seem to be the motive, unless the robber is a complete fool, the flag is written in Arabic.

Holding hostages is terrorism even if for ransom. Although police seemed to be around Circular Quay/Rocks looking for something, checked garbage bins, under trees and shrubs.

What is interesting is what the flag isn't. Being written in Arabic doesn't actually tell us much. I'm sure my coffee machine has instructions in Arabic. It is a generic arabic thing.

Holding hostages for ransom may be terrorism, and I certainly haven't said it wasn't. But it is not the typical terrorism of the type that is being speculated. It is not the typical approach of the death cult as the telegraph has speculated. If we remember what was reported as their action plan in Australia it is very different to today's events.

I can't express my thoughts in public, so I'm not going to continue to try.

 

[medhead]

Re: The totally off-topic thread

Hasn't been that for a VERY long time.

Australia is no longer the island in the middle of nowhere

 

[anat0l]

Re: The totally off-topic thread

Bit of a tangent (although to tie it back to the forum), many flights were diverted around the CBD today, and Qantas was no exception.

Qantas of course announced this on Facebook. And of course, people have found "legitimate" reasons to criticise Qantas for being completely insensitive to the incident, or even blaming them for supporting such incidents (e.g. by flying via Dubai).

 

[under the radar]

Re: The totally off-topic thread

and channel 7 has somehow managed to tie the cold wind to the event in martin place.... sorry... i dont have twitter or facebook.... so i am venting my WTF on here...