Australia news live: tenth anniversary of Sydney Lindt Cafe siege; severe heatwave to continue into next week
Key events
Louisa Hope, one of the Lindt Cafe siege survivors, told the ABC that the fateful day remained vivid in her memory:
It is still amazing to me – miraculous, really – that I didn’t die that day.
Being a survivor of a victim of terrorism is slightly different to being a survivor of other violent crime. Other violent crime is usually personal. But of course, the terrorist is not interested in me personally … They’re really interested in hurting the state or our collective sense of security.
The siege made her “very aware” of “how “tragedy and trauma can visit anybody and can be part of all of our lives”, Hope said, adding:
I think that, certainly for myself, it’s given me hope that we can actually survive the worst. You just don’t know when you’re having a cup of coffee in a cafe … and your life can change.
Tenth anniversary of Sydney Lindt Cafe seige
Sunday marks the 10-year anniversary of the beginning of the siege at the Lindt Cafe on Martin Place, where Man Haron Monis took 18 people hostage over 17 hours, AAP reports.
At gunpoint, Monis forced hostages to call police and media organisations, falsely warning that he had placed bombs around the city, including in his backpack, and that it was an attack by Islamic State. Images of the terrified hostages standing at the windows for hours were widely broadcast.
Monis eventually fatally shot cafe manager Tori Johnson, while barrister Katrina Dawson was killed by stray police bullet fragments in the final moments of the siege.
After the tragedy, a sea of flowers washed over Martin Place, as family, friends and onlookers remembered the pair who were killed.
Ten years on, a permanent exhibition is embedded into the concrete in Martin Place, with small flowers set into the pavement behind glass frames. On Monday, the NSW government erected a commemorative exhibition, displaying photos of the sea of flowers behind panels.
Good morning
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. Donna Lu here coming to you from a very sunny Melbourne to take you through the news today.
It’s 10 years ago today that the Lindt cafe siege began at Martin Place in Sydney, where where Man Haron Monis took 18 people hostage. The victims of the tragedy, cafe manager Tori Johnson and barrister Katrina Dawson, have been remembered by a commemorative exhibition erected by the NSW government.
Another heatwave is set to bake swathes of the country’s interior in the coming days, bringing temperatures above 40C and the warmest summer in years for much of south-east Australia.
And the end of Bashar Al-Assad’s rule in Syria has led to “pure joy and awful sadness” as Syrians in Australia express cautious optimism for their homeland’s future.
Tips and thoughts are welcome at Donna.Lu@theguardian.com.
