Australians mourn for hostages killed in siege

PM calls brush with terrorism country's first in nearly 35 years

Australians laid mounds of flowers at the site where two of 17 hostages were killed on Tuesday when police stormed into a cafe to rescue them from a gunman - a self-styled cleric described by Australia's prime minister as a deeply disturbed person carrying out a "sick fantasy".

The 16-hour siege that ended in a barrage of gunfire early on Tuesday left the gunman, 50-year-old Man Haron Monis, dead, and a nation that has long prided itself on its peace rocked to its core.

At a news conference later in the day, Prime Minister Tony Abbott called the siege the country's first brush with terrorism in more than 35 years and addressed the most glaring question that has emerged from the crisis: How did Monis - a man with a lengthy criminal record - slip through the cracks?

"How can someone who has had such a long and checkered history not be on the appropriate watch list? And how can someone like that be entirely at large in the community?" Abbott asked. "These are questions we need to look at carefully, calmly and methodically. That's what we'll be doing in the days and weeks ahead."

Monis had been charged as an accessory to murder and with multiple sexual offenses. He also harbored deep grievances against the Australian government and had found little kinship in the city's large Muslim community, where he was seen as deeply troubled, Reuters reported.

'I'll Ride With You'

The siege heightened fears of a terror attack, but it also produced heart-rending displays of solidarity among Australians who reached out to their Muslim compatriots. Many Australians on Twitter offered to accompany people dressed in Muslim clothes who were afraid of a backlash against the country's Muslim minority of 500,000 in a nation of 24 million. The hashtag @IllRideWithYou - or I'll Ride With You - was used more than 90,000 times by early Tuesday.

But the most visible reaction the day after the siege came in the form of mountains of flowers blanketing the pavement at Martin Place, where the siege began on Monday. The gunman burst into the Lindt Chocolat Cafe, took 17 people inside hostage.

'A safe place before'

"I'll never forget this day as long as I live," said Jenny Borovina, who was in tears with two friends while carrying white flowers to the site. She predicted that the effect of the standoff would leave a permanent scar on Australia's psyche. "Our laid-back nature has just changed," she said.

Like so many who work in the area, Borovina said she was locked down in her office near the cafe for more than four hours on Monday before police gave her the all-clear to leave. During that time, she said, she called her son to say take care. She also called her aunt, asking her to look after her son if she didn't make it out alive.

Andrea Wang, who laid a bouquet of lilies at the site, near her office, said "Australia was a really safe place before".

"I hope our country gets through this very quickly," she said, adding that her family from China had been calling. "They worry about me here"

AP - AFP - Reuters

(China Daily 12/17/2014 page11)