Police say Sydney church stabbing a ‘terrorist’ act

Australian police on Tuesday said a brutal live-streamed knife attack at a church service in Sydney was a religiously motivated “terrorist” act, as they urged calm from the angered local community.

A prominent bishop was among those being treated for “non-life threatening injuries” after the attack on Monday evening at an Assyrian Christian church in the west of Sydney.

“After consideration of all the material, I declared that it was a terrorist incident,” New South Wales police commissioner Karen Webb told a news conference.

Webb said the attack was deemed an act of religiously motivated “extremism” that intimidated the public — both parishioners at the church and people following the live-streamed service online.

The suspect was “known to the police” but was not on any terrorist watch list, Webb said.

Police responding to the incident soon found themselves under attack by angry people outside the church, she said.

“People used what was available to them in the area, including bricks, concrete, palings, to assault police and throw missiles at police and police equipment and police vehicles.”

Injured officers were taken to hospital overnight, Webb said, without giving figures.

The crowd damaged 20 police vehicles, she added.

“That is unacceptable and those that were involved in that riot can expect a knock at the door. It might not be today. It might not be tomorrow, but we will find you and we will come and arrest you,” Webb said.