#lindt cafe

[mandelene]

Sydney Day 40:

Since it's Friday, I thought I'd go and treat myself to some takeaway Nando's (the UK corrupted me and now I need my cheeky Nando's). On my way back home, I got a little lost...

And of all the places to accidentally end up, I found myself at the Lindt Café at Martin Place two minutes before 6pm (which is when they close). If that's not fate then idk what is.

If you know the history of what happened there in 2014, then you'll know why my exact thought was, "Well, fuck."

I couldn't just nonchalantly walk past. I went in and bought some chocolates.

This kind of stuff affects me more than I admit irl... 9/11 is one of my earliest memories from when I was a kid, so I'm scarred for life. That unease is always there. It creeps up when I hear someone shouting, when I see a bag left in a public space, when there's a car driving over the speed limit/recklessly on a busy city street...

I don't even like Lindt, lmao. But you'd best believe I'm gonna make myself eat it.

[7newssydney]

I anticipate that the next time this inquest convenes in public will be for the delivery of findings. That will now inevitably be in the New Year. There is a lot of work to be done between then and now but I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the good work that has already been done by so many people – in particular the team of investigators led by Detective Chief Inspector Memmolo and the various technical and content experts who have shared their knowledge. We could not have hoped to unpack these complex events without the assistance of those groups of people. I also wish to acknowledge the cooperation and the patience of the families of Katrina and Tory and of the surviving hostages. The inquest was obliged to start before many affected by the deaths could have been emotionally ready. That must have added to their pain – something I deeply regret. The inquest may have seemed lengthy. Despite that the evidence has been largely completed within the time frame that many inquests are only about to start. The Court has sat in public for a total of 23 weeks. The rest of the time was required to investigate the matter and put the evidence into a form that enabled the events to be properly and thoroughly examined in public. The task of the inquest has been to lay out the facts - what happened and why, so that those with a special interest in the events can understand how it came about and those responsible for preventing recurrences may learn how best to approach that. We have been well aware of the dangers of hindsight bias since the outset and have guarded against it. Nor is it our role to ascribe blame. Commentary to the contrary is either mischievous or ill-informed. I acknowledge the assistance of the court staff, the sheriffs and the department’s media officers – there have been novel challenges in these proceedings that they have dealt with superbly. Finally, I wish to thank the lawyers for their contribution which has been constructive and professional – most of the time. Obviously, I couldn’t have got this far without the assistance of those at the bar table and those assisting me. I thank you all.

NSW State Coroner's closing remarks today at the Lindt Cafe siege inquest

[7newssydney]

I am very disappointed with the accounts of Burn and Scipione. They were given the opportunity to present their credible approach to the inquest and Lindt Cafe siege; to differentiate from the previous accounts heard and to save the reputation of the NSW Police. Unfortunately, the opposite was the case. Both of them joined the lower ranking commanders suffering memory loss of critical elements of the siege. They could remember attending briefings where snacks and water were discussed, but cannot recall content of telephone conversations about DAs and the threat to the lives of innocent citizens. Scipione declared prior to entering the court how important it is for the truth to come out so this does not happen again. The police witnesses have contributed very little to the truth (at least not voluntarily) but made apparent significant gaps in our security procedures. He also said in court how much the police depends on the support of the community. How can anybody trust our Police when they are reluctant to give evidence, suffer from amnesia, serve non-publication orders and contradict their own evidence. We are not talking about the officer on the street here. We are talking about commanders in charge of thousands of armed officers meaning to protect the community from harm. They have betrayed their own system that they are employed to protect and by doing so betrayed the community. Tori may have died whatever decision would have been made that night. What adds to the pain is the lack of a plan that night. In Scipione's own words an "action plan was never approved nor authorised". God help Australians if we ever face a terrorist with more than a sawn-off shot gun. It would have been our 16th anniversary today. May Tori rest in peace.

Thomas Zinn

[battellemania]

#berlinbattelle 🍫

[theitjuggler]

Martin Place one year on

Martin Place one year on

One year ago today, I was holed up in my office near Martin Place. One year ago, as Floor Warden, I was trying to keep an office full of men and women calm in the face of a virtually unknown threat. One year ago, I had to send an SMS to my wife and children to let them know I was safe before they heard the news when they landed from an interstate trip.

The Martin Place siege, as it has come to be…

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[sweetness-doesnt-touch-my-face]

Lindt Cafe Vandalised.

Before I start my reblogging for the day, I just wanted to mention that Australia has woken up to some disgusting news. Some sick fucks have vandalised the Lindt Cafe (Sydney Siege) with throwing large rocks through all the windows. It hasn't even been a year yet but that doesn't mean it's ever acceptable. This is despicable and bloody insensitive that someone thought this would be a funny stunt to pull. I sincerely hope on the be half of everybody that they catch the assholes.

[battellemania]

“What a difference 7 months makes”