Representatives of the Australian Muslim community accuse the authorities of inciting anti -Islamic sentiments against the backdrop of April attacks with a knife in Sydney.
The victims of the incident on April 13 at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center were six people. A few days after the attack, the police said that the attacker suffered from a mental disorder.
At the same time, law enforcement officers did not mention the health problems of the attacked during service in the Church of Christ the good shepherd in Sydney on April 15. Only a few hours after the incident, the police described what happened as a “terrorist attack”.
In an interview with an ANADOLA agency, Sheikh Shadi Al-Suleiman, chairman of the Imams of Australia, shared his opinion on the growth of anti-Muslim sentiments in Australia after the mentioned attacks.
According to him, in the cases under consideration, the same crime was interpreted differently. Suleiman called a similar situation by the manifestation of “double standards.” In one case, it was stated that the cause of the attack was the problems with the psyche, and in the other – that the attacker committed it intentionally. There was a serious injustice, ”he said.
According to Suleiman, the organization headed by him expressed its concern to the relevant authorities about the double attitude to what happened, but the authorities could not bring convincing arguments to justify their position.
The interlocutor of the agency noted that the leading media of Australia largely “isolate Muslims and portray them as enemies.”
He indicated that when describing the priest in the Church, the media used such expressions as “religious”, “Sunny” and “Muslim”. Sheikh Shadi al-Suleiman emphasized that this contributed to a violation of multicultural harmony in Australia and increased hostility towards Muslims.
April on April, six people died as a result of an attack by an unknown with a knife in the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center in a suburbs of Sydney. The attacker was shot dead by the police.
Just a few days after the incident, the Australian authorities said that the attack was not related to terrorism, and the attacker “acted alone.”
April on April in Sydney, a man during the service attacked with a knife on the bishop of the Assyrian Church of Christ the good shepherd – Mar Marie Emmanuel. The clergyman and three more people were injured, and the attacker was detained.
The Chief of Police of the Australian state, the New South Wales said that the attack would be investigated as a “terrorist act”. It was reported that after the attack, some mosques in the state were at risk. The authorities announced that within the framework of “anti-terrorism” operations, 6 adolescents at the age of 14-17 were arrested, allegedly related to this incident.