Sydney Bishop stabbed during service by teen in terror attack, say police

By Peter Vercoe and Ben Westcott
 

The bishop of an ultra-conservative Assyrian Orthodox church in Sydney was stabbed during a service Monday night, in what police say was a religiously-motivated “terrorist incident.”
 

A teenager who allegedly stabbed the bishop is under police guard at a local hospital after undergoing surgery for injuries he sustained, New South Wales state police said Tuesday. The bishop was conducting a live-streamed service when the attack occurred. Footage showed the 16-year-old male stabbing the bishop multiple times before he fell to the ground. 

A parish priest was also injured in the attack. He and the bishop were treated at the scene before being taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police. Angry community members then confronted police who attended the scene, injuring two officers, including one who sustained a broken jaw after being hit with a brick and fence paling.

 

The attack comes as Sydney reels from a mass stabbing on Saturday at a shopping mall near the city’s famed Bondi Beach that left six people dead and at least 12 injured. Police said there was no links to terrorism in that incident. 

At a press conference in Canberra on Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a joint counter-terrorism task force including the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation had been established in the wake of Monday night’s attack at the church.  

“I understand that people are feeling uneasy, and that’s understandable given the atrocity that occurred on Saturday and then this incident last night,” Albanese said.

ASIO Director General Mike Burgess said there was no indication at this stage that any other individuals were involved in planning the attack, but added the investigation was ongoing. Burgess said Australia’s terrorism threat level wouldn’t be raised as a result of the incident.

The teenager who allegedly stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of Christ The Good Shepherd Church in western Sydney was known to police but not on any terrorist watch lists, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb told a media briefing earlier Tuesday. Emmanuel, who posts his sermons on Youtube, became popular during the Covid-19 pandemic for being critical of lockdowns and vaccines, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. 

“We believe there are elements that are satisfied in terms of religious motivated extremism,” Webb said. Authorities have so far refused to comment further on the specifics of the attacker’s motivation or whether he was radicalized.