Sydney mall gets sombre reopening after stabbing attack

SYDNEY: A Sydney shopping mall where six people died in a stabbing attack held a sombre reopening yesterday, with members of a sorrowful community filing past rows of still-shuttered stores to pay their respects.

Shops will reopen properly today, nearly a week after a 40year-old man rampaged through the Westfield mall in Bondi Junction.

But yesterday’s ‘slow reopening’ was billed as a chance for shocked Sydneysiders to reflect.

It’s an opportunity to express solidarity and condolences and to ‘turn the page on what’s been a very difficult period’ for the city, said New South Wales Premier Chris Minns.

It was, he said, a ‘first step in healing’.

Throughout the week, wellwishers have left piles of flowers knee-deep outside the shopping centre - usually thronged with families or people grabbing some food, groceries or clothes.

Yesterday, the crowds had thinned considerably.

Digital displays that once showed glitzy ads and maps to help shoppers navigate the labyrinthine complex were instead fixed with pixelled black ribbons on a plain white background.

On one polished-stone concourse, a crescent of white flower bouquets and wreaths framed a message of remembrance and a simple white table.

The attack has shocked Sydney’s normally peaceful Eastern Suburbs area, where dangers usually amount to no more than a rip current along the beach, a jogging injury, or an unfortunate encounter with the native fauna.

Television channels and newspapers have published the numbers of helplines for residents struggling to come to terms with the unfathomable violence in their backyard.