2:49pm: NSW Police @nswpolice have released updates that they are still continuing to work on bringing about a peaceful resolution to the siege situation at Martin Place. So far, the gunman is still considered an armed offender with claims to have political motivations. The police are operating according to Counter Terrorism Protocols with Counter Terrorism and Security Command in charge of this operation.
Latest update re: @nswpolice operation at #MartinPlace pic.twitter.com/ZOjua2wley
— NSW Police (@nswpolice) December 15, 2014
2:01pm: Two female Lindt Cafe employees have been seen leaving the building, bringing the number of people released from the siege to five.
12:56pm: New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn confirms that three people have been released. She added that the number of people remaining in the cafe are yet to be ascertained but that police negotiators have established contact with the gunman.
12:43pm: Australian media outlets report that people have been seen coming out of the Lindt Cafe, two through the front door and one assumed to be a Lindt Cafe employee through the fire escape. More are expected to be released. Police have yet to confirm these news reports.
12:31pm: Lindt Australia has released a post on its Facebook page thanking everybody for their support and sympathising with those involved in the hostage crisis.
11.19am: NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione confirmed in a recent press conference that there is at least one armed offender. The police have not had direct contact with the armed offender as of yet.
They are still determining the armed offender’s motivation and origins as well as the exact number of people being held in the cafe. They are working with partner agencies to determine the origin of the black flag with white Arabic writing that was being waved behind the hostages.
10:56am:An update from @nswpolice details that there is a police operation underway at Martin Place and that specialist officers are attempting to make contact with those inside a cafe.
— NSW Police (@nswpolice) December 15, 2014
The @nswpolice will be have a press conference soon.
According to a Lindt Australia executive, there are about 10 staff and up to 30 customers trapped in the cafe.
Armed police outside the cafe – AFP Photo
SYDNEY: Hostages were being held inside a cafe in central Sydney Monday (Dec 15) with a siege underway and an Islamic flag held up to a window, witnesses and reports said.
Martin Place in the central business district was shut down as scores of police surrounded the Lindt Chocolat Cafe, with TV pictures showing a flag, black with white Arabic writing, held to a window.
Reports said as many as 20 people were in the cafe and that there were at least two gunmen, although police had no immediate comment, only confirming that an operation was underway. Witnesses reported hearing loud bangs that sounded like gun shots.
Patrick Byrne, a producer at Channel Seven whose newsroom is opposite the cafe, said staff at the television station watched the situation unfold. “We raced to the window and saw the shocking and chilling sight of people putting their hands up against the panes of glass at the cafe,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “This was just extraordinary.”
Separately, Australian authorities are dealing with an “incident” at Sydney’s Opera House, police said Monday, without elaborating on whether it was related to an ongoing siege at a nearby cafe. “The police are responding to an incident at the Opera House,” a New South Wales police spokeswoman told AFP. Reports said the Opera House had been evacuated. – AFP