Sydney could face revenge attacks as bishop stabbing declared terrorist act

‘[The teenager] wasn’t known to us from a terrorism point of view’

AUSTRALIAN security chiefs are on alert for further attacks after the stabbing of a bishop in Sydney was declared an act of terrorism.

A 15-year-old boy is accused of attacking Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, a senior figure in the ultra-conservative Assyrian Orthodox Church, and wounding three others during a live broadcast of a sermon. On Monday night at least 30 people, including two police officers, were injured when angry crowds gathered outside the church to demand vengeance.

Chris Minns, the New South Wales premier, said thousands of officers were deployed to protect religious organisations “in order to avoid retaliation or titfor-tat violence”.

The incident prompted Anthony Albanese, Australia’s prime minister, Richard Marles, his deputy, and Penny

Wong, the foreign minister, to convene for an emergency security meeting with the heads of the defence force and ASIO, the country’s spy agency.

Karen Webb, the New South Wales police commissioner, said yesterday that she had declared the alleged assaults at Christ The Good Shepherd church a “terrorist act”.

“A referral has been made and agreed to by the joint counter-terrorism investigation team,” Ms Webb said. Noting

the teenager had made comments “centred around religion” when he approached the bishop, she said investigators believe the incident could be considered “religious-motivated extremism”.

“[The teenager] wasn’t known to us from a terrorism point of view, he was not on any terror watchlist,” she said. “This is the first time this individual has come to our attention in this manner.”

Footage captured during the Mass showed a person dressed in black approaching the altar and launching a attack on the bishop’s head and upper body. Father Isaac Royel also sustained injuries – a shoulder wound and lacerations – when he tried to intervene, police said. Officers went on to barricade themselves and the suspect inside the church when hundreds of people

gathered to demand vengeance for the stabbing, the second major knife assault in Australia in three days.

Dominic Morgan, the state’s ambulance commissioner, said paramedics were “holed up in the church” for more than three hours during the violence which resulted in at least 30 people requiring medical treatment.

A police officer sustained a twisted knee and a chipped tooth after being hit with a metal object.

“Another constable sustained a broken jaw after he was hit with a brick and a fence paling,” police said.

Footage posted online showed the attacker criticising Bishop Emmanuel’s comments about Islam while pinned to the ground by the congregation. The teenage suspect underwent surgery for a hand injury following the incident.

‘Another constable sustained a broken jaw after he was hit with a brick and a fence paling’