As the nation reeled from a second stabbing incident in three days, Australian police declared that a knife assault on an Assyrian church bishop and several supporters in Sydney was a terrorist act motivated by suspected religious fanaticism, reports RTE.
A man stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church with a knife during yesterday’s live-streamed liturgy, leaving at least four people injured.
Following the incident in the Wakeley neighbourhood of western Sydney, police and a throng of irate supporters of the bishop clashed outside the church, demanding that the assailant be turned over to them, reports RTE.
Yesterday, when the throng of believers gathered outside, police were compelled to restrain a male adolescent they had apprehended at the site for his own protection.
“We believe there are elements that are satisfied in terms of religious motivated extremism. After consideration of all the material, I declared that it was a terrorist incident,” New South Wales state Police Commissioner Karen Webb said during a press conference, reports RTE.
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