Trucks roll in as Sydney

Authorities suggest anti-terror measures may become a permanent feature of CBD

Sydney may have permanent anti-terror measures in the CBD after Boxing Day crowds shopped amid trucks, cranes and bollards. The measures, in addition to road closures on Tuesday, were put in place as thousands flocked to the CBD to browse post-Christmas sales.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper said the four trucks, two cranes and more than 60 bollards that built a ring of steel, cement and plastic around the city’s heart, blocking off Market, George, Elizabeth and Castlereagh streets, meant Boxing Day shoppers had come face-to-face with a stark new festive season reality: Fortress Sydney.

It follows last week’s vehicle attack in Melbourne’s bustling Flinders Street which left 20 people in hospital, including two men who are still fighting for life.

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton described the tactics as an “escalation” of the usual crowd protection strategies.

Although the national terror threat level had remained at “probable” for over two years, he said there was still a need for vigilance.

“We would be negligent not to look at our days when we do have a lot of people loaded in these areas and put some treatments in,” Walton told radio station 2GB yesterday.

“You’ve only got to look at what’s happened internationally and even down in Melbourne to know people are vulnerable and we need to do what we can, within reason, to make them safe in these areas.”

Walton also cited a national strategy for protecting crowded spaces, released by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in August, which requires landholders to consider security with advice from police.

“We really do need to mature in relation to the way we build structures around our footpaths and roadways,” he said.

“I was in London a month ago — there’s significant treatments all through London.

“I hope we don’t get to that point but I do believe there are some permanent structures that will be required in Sydney and other locations.”

Saeed Noori, a 32-year-old Afghan refugee who is an Australian citizen, is accused of mowing down pedestrians in Melbourne’s CBD last Thursday in what was the second car attack in the city this year.

He is charged with 18 counts of attempted murder and one of conduct endangering life.

You’ve only got to look at what’s happened internationally and even down in Melbourne to know people are vulnerable and we need to do what we can, within reason, to make them safe in these areas. Mark Walton

He appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, where prosecutors asked for longer than usual to serve a brief of evidence on the defence, which will include CCTV footage.

Noori’s lawyer Tass Antos said his client’s mental impairment and fitness to plea would be considered in his case.

Noori, who has a history of drug and mental health problems, was remanded in custody until his committal mention on May 30.

Magistrate John Hardy noted Noori was withdrawing from drug addiction, that he may have psychiatric and other illnesses and was taking medication for people with mental health issues.

“It’s important that you continue to take your medications,” he said.

In January, six people were killed and more than 30 were injured in Melbourne when a car was driven up a footpath in Bourke St, near Thursday’s incident. Police arrested the driver, who was known to police for a history of illicit drug use, family violence and mental health problems, but the case was not terrorismrelated.

There have been a number of car attacks in other parts of the world in recent years, many of them linked to terrorism.

In October, a man drove a truck down a New York City bicycle path, killing eight people. The driver is accused of providing material support to Isis (Islamic State) among other charges, including murder.

In an August attack, 13 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded when a vehicle rammed into pedestrians on a walking street in Barcelona.

London has seen three such attacks this year, two linked to Islamic extremists and another seen as a reprisal attack outside a mosque, killing 13 people altogether.

A vehicle attack on a shopping street in Stockholm in April killed five people, while an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin last December killed 12.

The deadliest such attack in recent