Australia Says Assyrian Church Stabbing Was Terrorist Act

'TIME TO UNITE'

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there was no place in Australia for violent extremism.

"We're a peace-loving nation. This is a time to unite, not divide, as a community, and as a country," he said during a media conference.

Bishop Emmanuel's live-streamed sermons attract a global audience and his video clips rack up hundreds of thousands of views online. He became well known for his hardline views during the pandemic when he described lockdowns as "mass slavery", media reported at the time. A sermon uploaded on YouTube last year showed the bishop criticizing Islam.

Lakemba mosque in Sydney's southwest, one of Australia's largest, received firebomb threats on Monday night, the Lebanese Muslim Association said.

"We are vigilant ... we're also asking the police to protect all places of worship. We are worried that there may be attacks on all forms of faith, and that is the last thing we need," Secretary Gamel Kheir told reporters.

Australia's spy chief said he would check people close to the attacker to rule out any further threats to the community.

"It is prudent that we do this to determine there's no threats or immediate security threats. At this time, we're not seeing that," said Mike Burgess, director-general of security for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

Asked by a reporter about a video circulating of the alleged attacker pinned to the ground, his face obscured, with a voice speaking in Arabic "if they didn't insult my prophet, I wouldn't have come here", Burgess said: "We're aware of those comments ... everything else is open lines of inquiry to understand why that individual got to where they did."

REUTERS

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