Boy arrested after bishop stabbed at Sydney Mass
Teenager accused of knife attack on four people in orthodox church as service was being broadcast
POLICE arrested a 15-year-old boy after a bishop was stabbed during a live broadcast sermon in the second knife assault in Australia’s largest city in just three days.
The teenager, who has not been named, is accused of stabbing Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, a senior figure in the ultra-conservative Assyrian Orthodox Church, and three other people.
The attack was captured on video, with graphic footage showing a man dressed in black approaching the altar of the Christ the Good Shepherd Church and launching a furious attack on the bishop’s head and upper body.
In a briefing hours after the attack, New South Wales police said the alleged knifeman was known to them.
The boy had asked to speak with his parents and police are considering the request, said Acting Assistant Commissioner Andrew Holland.
He is being treated for injuries to his hands amid unconfirmed reports that somebody cut off one or more of his fingers in an act of vengeance after the teenager was tackled to the ground by members of the congregation.
In video footage posted on social media, several people appear to be holding down the alleged assailant. He is straddled by a man who has bloodstains on his trousers.
The video shows the teenager apparently smiling at the camera.
The attack happened as the bishop led a Mass that was being broadcast live online. As he was stabbed, people in the congregation started screaming and rushed to his aid.
At least three people suffered knife injuries, according to the NSW ambulance service. None of the injuries were life-threatening, authorities said.
The attacker was arrested at the scene, with New South Wales police saying he had been “removed from the church and taken to an undisclosed location”.
Angry crowds congregated outside the church, demanding vengeance for the attack on the bishop. Hundreds of people tried to push past a phalanx of riot police to reach the suspect.
At least two officers were injured – one of them suffered a broken jaw after being hit with a brick – and police vehicles had their windows smashed. A police officer told the Sydney Morning Herald: “The crowd was attacking us, throwing things and being aggressive as we tried to help their bishop. I said to them, ‘We are not your enemy.’”
The attack came two days after a lone knifeman killed six people in a stabbing rampage at a Westfield shopping centre in Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon.
A dozen people were injured before the attacker, a Queensland man with mental health issues named Joel Cauchi, was shot dead.
The latest attack happened in a suburb called Wakeley, about 18 miles west of Bondi Junction.
The neighbourhood is home to a small Christian Assyrian community, many of whom fled persecution and war in Iraq and Syria.
There was no suggestion that the attacks were related.
Chris Minns, the premier of New South Wales, said: “My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and first responders who are working to keep us safe.
“It’s important that the community remain calm and continue to listen and act to the directions of police and emergency services. We are a strong community in NSW and it’s important that we all stick together, particularly in the face of adversity.”
The attack on the bishop was condemned by leaders of several faiths.
Alex Ryvchin, from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, wrote on X that he was “horrified by the stabbing attack on a bishop at an Assyrian Church in Sydney”.
The Australian National Imams Council said it “unequivocally” condemned the stabbing attack.
“These attacks are horrifying and have no place in Australia,” the council said in a statement.
‘The crowd was attacking us, throwing things and being aggressive as we tried to help their bishop’