SYDNEY - The father of the teenager who stabbed an Assyrian bishop during a church service in Sydney saw no signs of radicalism, a community leader said on April 17, as police planned to charge people who attacked emergency services following the incident.

The attack on the evening of April 15 by a male teenager, which injured Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church, has been deemed a terrorist act motivated by suspected religious extremism.

Lebanese Muslim Association secretary Gamel Kheir, who was with the boy’s father after he fled his home that evening for fear of reprisals and took shelter in a local mosque, said the man had seen no signs of radicalism in his son.

“He said other than him being rebellious to him... there were no signs. There were absolutely no signs to him,” he told Reuters.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb defended her decision to declare the stabbing a “terrorist” act.

She said she made the designation strictly in line with state law that says a terrorist act is one that harms a person, is motivated by a political, religious or ideological cause, and is aimed at intimidating the public.

Commissioner Webb said she was satisfied the attack met the legal criteria, adding: “I made that declaration without hesitation.”

Police said the family of the alleged attacker have temporarily moved out of their western Sydney home.

The stabbing has stirred up fears of persecution for the Assyrian community – predominantly Christians from the Middle East – some of whom fled their homeland because of their faith. Roughly 40 per cent of Australia’s 42,000 strong Assyrian population live in the area around the church.

“It’s very devastating, the Assyrian community have come from Iraq because they had been persecuted for being Christian,” said Maria, whose family migrated to Australia from Iraq in 1993.

“(Monday’s) attack on our faith is just an old reminder of what happened back home.”

The city’s Muslim community is also on alert.

The Lebanese Muslim Association said the Lakemba mosque in Sydney’s south-west, one of the largest in Australia, had received firebomb threats on the night of April 15.

“We’ve had to employ two security guards to protect the mosque,” Mr Kheir said.

Police move

The April 15 incident in the western Sydney suburb of Wakeley triggered clashes outside the church between police and an angry crowd of the bishop's followers who demanded that the attacker be handed over to them.

Police made the first arrest in the incident on April 17, taking into custody a 19-year-old after they searched his home.

Commissioner Webb said police were carefully going through visuals from body cameras and other surveillance footage to identify as many rioters as possible, she told ABC Radio.

“(Police have) some clear indications of who some of those individuals were and they can expect a knock at the door,” she said, adding that not all who came to the church attacked the police.

Several emergency personnel were injured and 20 police vehicles were damaged in the riot.

The 53-year-old Bishop Emmanuel, who has a popular youth following on TikTok, has been a target for criticism, hate and online trolling. His sermons range from homilies on the Bible to fiery criticisms of homosexuality, Covid-19 vaccinations, Islam and US President Joe Biden’s election. REUTERS