Australian Police Declares Sydney Church Stabbing 'Terrorist Act'

Facts

• New South Wales Police said Tuesday that remarks from the 15-year-old boy detained over a knife attack at the Assyrian Orthodox Christ the Good Shepherd Church indicate the assault was a religiously-motivated terrorist act.¹
• This comes as four people, including Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, were injured in a caught-on-camera stabbing during a mass in Sydney's western suburb of Wakeley the previous evening.²
• All of them suffered non-life threatening injuries and were treated by paramedics before being taken to hospital, with Bishop Emmanuel said to be in a critical but stable condition.³
• A livestream of the mass showed graphic footage of a person dressed in black launching a knife attack on the bishop during his sermon before worshippers rushed to stop him.⁴
• Clashes erupted in the area as hundreds gathered to reportedly demand the police to take the culprit outside, injuring two police officers and damaging vehicles after hurling bricks, bottles and stones.⁵
• This incident comes after another violent stabbing left six people dead and injured more than a dozen others in a Sydney shopping mall on Saturday. The two attacks are not believed to be linked.⁶

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²Guardian, ³ABC Australia, ⁴The Telegraph, ⁵BBC News and ⁶PBS NewsHour.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Daily Mail. This is a deeply tragic event that must be deeply investigated. Although the motive of the attacker remains unclear, Emmanuel was a polarizing figure and this could have been a personal attack. There are many potential angles that must be probed to the fullest.
• Narrative B, as provided by Right Angle News Network on X. Too little was covered by mainstream news outlets to investigate if this was an attack on the Christian faith, but police have made the right decision. Although still in the early stages, it's vital to explore fully how hate crimes against Emmanuel's faith were a motivating factor in this heinous attack.

Predictions