Police in Australia have arrested seven youngsters who posed an “unacceptable danger and risk” to the neighborhood within the wake of the stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church.
The youngsters, all aged between 15 and 17, are accused of being a part of a community that follows a violent extremist ideology.
That community included a 16-year-old who has been charged with committing a terrorist act after Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was stabbed during a service on the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd Church on 16 April.
Following the alleged terrorist assault, New South Wales Police deputy commissioner David Hudson stated “a variety of associates had been recognized” which authorities believed warranted additional police consideration.
An investigation was launched by the Joint Counter-Terrorism Staff, which includes federal and state police in addition to Australia’s nationwide safety company and which specialises in extremists and organised crime.
“We’ll allege that these people adhered to a religiously motivated, violent extremist ideology,” Mr Hudson stated.
“It was thought-about that the group… posed an unacceptable danger and risk to the folks of New South Wales, and our present purely investigative methods couldn’t adequately guarantee public security.”
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Greater than 400 law enforcement officials executed 13 search warrants at properties throughout southwest Sydney throughout the investigation however no proof of particular targets or timing of an supposed “violent act” was discovered, police stated.
5 different youngsters are nonetheless being questioned by the Joint Counter-Terrorism Staff.
It comes after an Australian Federal Court docket choose prolonged an order banning social media platform X from exhibiting movies of the bishop being repeatedly stabbed.
Justice Geoffrey Kennett prolonged the ban, which the court docket put in place on Monday, till 10 Could.
The ban was met with criticism from X chief government Elon Musk, who accused Australia of censorship.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese later berated Musk, calling him an “conceited billionaire who thinks he is above the regulation”.