In London on the July 7th Bombings lots of people were offering their homes to people who couldn’t get home. We had a few people here, after I spent a couple of hours walking home, partly assisted by the free ferry supplied by a hotel (Hilton?). The regular ferries had had to close because the tube and buses had already been hit so the public ferries were too.
Fox news is reporting that this guys is an “Iranian murder and sex assault suspect known for sending hate mail to the families of Australian soldiers killed overseas, police confirmed.”
Sounds like a real prize. My vote, assuming they take him alive, is to ship his ass back to Tehran on the next flight out.
I so hope this ends without violence. NinjaChick, I’m so glad you didn’t go for that chocolate. What a terrible situation.
Cops are storming the cafe. Breaking News, no link yet
Its being reported live on the international ABC feed.
Praying for a good ending…
I have read that he has been living in Australia since 1996, and that he had to leave Iran because, being some kind of religious authority, his interpretation of the religion clashed with the one favored by the Iranian rulers.
From Wikipedia:
“Haron was born Manteghi Bourjerdi in Iran where, as an ayatollah, his liberal interpretation of Islam led to the detention of his wife and children. Bourjerdi fled Iran to Australia in 1996 as a refugee, and changed his name to Man Haron Monis, assuming the title of Sheikh Haron.”
If this is the case (that he was Manteghi Bourjerdi in Iran), there is additional corroboration for his having been forced to flee Iran in 1996 in this article from January 21, 2001.
This sounds to me like somebody who has gone “round the bend” in the last few years. In my opinion he is more mentally ill than a terrorist. Of course, this will be for the authorities and the medical experts to decide.
Reading the website of ABC news, they say that he has relayed a request to speak directly with the Australian Prime Minister, and it seems that it is confirmed that he is Manteghi Bourjerdi. Here: http://abcnews.go.com/International/sydney-hostage-taker-identified-man-haron-monis/story?id=27607179
Just watched the video of them breaching. A few explosions (flashbangs??) an LOTS of semi automatic gunfire.
The cops have just confirmed it’s over but casualties and the state of the guy is as yet unknown but I’m assuming the waste of skin is dead because of the gunfire.
Hopefully some innocents didn’t get hit as well.
It’s interesting that CNN is reporting that ABC (Australia) has reported that there are two dead and three seriously injured after the police siege.
But I’ve been watching a live feed from ABC for awhile and I haven’t heard them report anything about any deaths. Wonder what’s up with that?
Fuck fuck fuck. I have heard talk about 2 dead 3 injured but have not had any confirmation
Is this rumor just some sort of over-anxious US media echo chamber?
ABC News JUST SAID that there are rumors that two have been shot but that they have been very careful not to report that as a fact. And they didn’t even mention a rumor of two being dead.
I noticed he has a website that Wikipedia links to. Out of curiosity, I clicked on the link and found the account suspended.
A Sydney news site is reporting two dead, including the bad guy. I hope only he died and this is wrong.
NSW police have not said anything regarding casualties.
BBC is only reporting “several injured.”
Holy FUCK that was a lot of shots fired!
[The AP is reporting people injured but mention no deaths.
I don’t understand why they aren’t reporting the condition of the hostages. They certainly know over an hour after storming the cafe. Were they attacked during the stand off? or what?
Glad it’s over and pray the hostages aren’t seriously hurt.
All I could think when watching them storm the Cafe was “holy fuck that’s a lot of shots fired”; I have a hard time even thinking that hostages weren’t hit by some of that.
I read a statistic recently that said that highly-trained tactical shooters hit their target 19% of the time when under high stress, which may explain all of the shooting.
I also hope that no one was seriously injured or killed by the shots; American media currently says 2 dead, including the hostage-taker.