The Lindt Café siege was a terrorist attack that occurred on 15–16 December 2014 when a lone gunman, Man Haron Monis, held hostage ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt Chocolate Café in the APA Building in Martin Place, Sydney, Australia.
The Sydney siege led to a 16-hour standoff, after which a gunshot was heard from inside and police officers from the Tactical Operations Unit (TOU) stormed the café. Hostage Tori Johnson was killed by Monis and hostage Katrina Dawson was killed by a police bullet ricochet in the subsequent raid. Monis was also killed. Three other hostages and a police officer were injured by police gunfire during the raid.
Police have been criticised over their handling of the siege for not taking proactive action earlier, for the deaths of hostages at the end of the siege, and for the lack of negotiation during the siege. Hostage Marcia Mikhael called radio station 2GB during the siege and said, "They have not negotiated, they've done nothing. They have left us here to die."
Early on, hostages were seen holding a Jihadist flag against the window of the café, featuring the shahādah creed. Initially, many media organisations mistook it for the flag used by the Islamic State (IS); Monis later demanded that an IS flag be brought to him. Monis also unsuccessfully demanded to speak to the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, live on radio. Monis was described by Abbott as having indicated a "political motivation," but the eventual assessment was that the gunman was "a very unusual case—a rare mix of extremism, mental health problems and plain criminality."
In the aftermath of the siege, Muslim groups issued a joint statement in which they condemned the incident, and memorial services were held in the city at the nearby St Mary's Cathedral and St James' Church. Condolence books were set up in other Lindt cafés and the community turned Martin Place into a "field of flowers." The Martin Place Lindt café was severely damaged during the police raid, closed afterwards, then renovated for reopening in March 2015.
In October 2022, the TOU officer who shot and killed Monis during the police storming of the Lindt Café published a memoir entitled 'Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! The Lindt Café Siege: The incredible inside story of two days that traumatised a nation: And one man's journey of resilience and hope.'
Events
Prior to event
An anonymous call was made to Australia's anti-terrorism hotline 48 hours before the siege, raising concerns about the content of Monis's website. On his website, Monis had pledged allegiance to "the caliph of the Muslims", believed to be referring to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and denounced moderate Islam. It has been reported that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation followed up on the call by reviewing the website and Monis's posts on social media but found nothing to indicate that he was likely to commit an act of violence.
Hostage-taking and negotiations
Monis entered the Lindt Chocolate Café at 53 Martin Place, Sydney, at 8:33am Sydney local time (AEDT) on 15 December 2014 (UTC+11). The café is located directly across from the Seven News television studios, and near the Reserve Bank of Australia, the headquarters of the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac bank, and Martin Place underground train station.
The situation began at 9:44am, when Monis forced Tori Johnson, the manager of the café, to phone 000.
Monis was bearded, wearing a black cap and wearing a black headband with the inscription, in Arabic: "We are ready to sacrifice for you, O Mohammad." He was carrying a blue sports bag, and armed with a sawed-off pump-action shotgun. The shotgun was old but could fire four shots in five seconds.
Monis used hostages as human shields. He had disabled the automatic sliding glass doors of the café.
Monis claimed there were four "devices" located around Sydney. However, New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said that none of the alleged devices were found during investigations. Monis also demanded that a hostage ask all media to broadcast that "this is an attack on Australia by the Islamic State". In addition, he demanded that an Islamic State flag be delivered to him, although the request was never fulfilled.
Hostages were ordered to hold up a Black Standard flag, with the shahādah in white Arabic letters (an Islamic creed declaring: "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of God"), against the window of the café. Some news reports initially mistook it for the flag used by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).