Australian police say Assyrian church stabbing was a terrorist attack

Police stand outside the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd Church following a knife attack during the previous night’s service in Wakeley on April 16, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. Photo credit: REUTERS

A knife attack during a service at an Assyrian church in Sydney that injured a bishop was an act of terrorism motivated by suspected religious extremism, Australian police said on Tuesday.

At least four people, including Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Assyrian Church of Christ the Good Shepherd, were injured in the attack during a live broadcast service in the western Sydney suburb of Wakeley on Monday.

The incident led to clashes outside the church between the police and the bishop’s followers who demanded that the attacker be handed over to them.

Police arrested a male teenager at the scene on Monday and were forced to hold him inside the church for his own safety as a crowd of worshipers gathered outside.

“We believe there are elements of complacency when it comes to religiously motivated extremism,” New South Wales State Police Commissioner Karen Webb told a press conference.

“After considering all the factors, I have declared it a terrorist incident.”

Police said there was a “level of premeditation” as the male attacker traveled with a knife to a church not far from his home. But Ms Webb said police believed in the early stages of the investigation that the attacker was acting alone.

Emergency crews said they attended to about 30 people and seven were injured and taken to hospitals after the clashes outside the church. Ms Webb said several policemen were injured and hospitalized and 20 police vehicles were damaged.

Second attack in three days

It was the second major stabbing in Australia’s most populous city in just three days, after six people were killed and 12 injured in a knife attack at a beachside mall in the Bondi area on Saturday.

Bishop Emmanuel’s live-streamed sermons attract a global audience when a man attacked him with a knife while he was speaking during an evening service, according to video footage.

Clips of the bishop’s sermons have garnered hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and TikTok. He became known for his hard-line views during the pandemic when he described the COVID lockdowns as “mass slavery,” media reported at the time.

New South Wales state Premier Chris Minnes urged people not to take the law into their own hands.

“Any attempts at violence in Sydney in the coming days will be met with the full force of the law,” Mr Minns told reporters.