SYDNEY – A knife attack during a service at an Assyrian church in Sydney that injured a bishop was a terrorist act motivated by suspected religious extremism, Australian police said on April 16.

At least four people were wounded in the attack, including Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church, during a service live-streamed in the western Sydney suburb of Wakeley on April 15. They are being treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Wakeley is about 30km west of downtown Sydney.

Police arrested a male teenager at the scene on April 15 and were forced to hold him at the church for his own safety as the crowd of worshippers gathered outside.

“We believe there are elements that are satisfied in terms of religious-motivated extremism,” Commissioner Karen Webb of the New South Wales state police said during a press conference.

“After consideration of all the material, I declared that it was a terrorist incident.”

Police said there was “a degree of premeditation” as the male attacker travelled to the church, far from his home, with a knife. But Ms Webb said police, at this early stage of the investigation, believe the attacker was acting alone.

She noted that the attack intimidated the public – both parishioners at the church and people following the live-streamed service online.

The suspect was “known to the police”, but was not on any terrorist watch list, she added.

The incident 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.

Three other people were treated for non-stab wounds sustained in the attack and about 30 more were treated after a riot that ensued outside the church.

For three hours, more than 500 protestors clashed with a phalanx of riot police offices who battled to prevent them from re-entering the church and lynching the teen.

He is now being held at an undisclosed location and is believed to have also sustained knife injuries. The authorities had originally given the suspect’s age as 15.

An AFP journalist at the scene late on April 15 saw projectiles being hurled before police with riot shields and body armour eventually pushed the protesters away from the church.

Twenty police vehicles and some houses were damaged as the protesters threw bottles, bricks and other items.

One officer was “hit with a metal object and sustained a twisted knee and a chipped tooth”, police said.

“Another constable sustained a broken jaw after he was hit with a brick and a fence paling.”

Calm was eventually restored, but more officers were deployed to the neighbourhood to protect local religious buildings.

Emergency crews said they attended to around 30 people outside the church after the clashes, and seven were taken to hospitals with injuries. Several police officers were hospitalised with injuries and 20 police vehicles were damaged, Ms Webb said.

“People used what was available to them in the area, including bricks, concrete and palings, to assault police and throw missiles at police and police equipment and police vehicles,” Ms Webb said.

“That is unacceptable and those who were involved in that riot can expect a knock at the door. It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, but we will find you and we will come and arrest you,” she said.

Bishop Emmanuel, whose live-streamed sermons attract a global audience, was speaking during an evening service when a man lunged at him with a knife, according to video footage.

Clips of the bishop’s sermons rack up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and TikTok. He became well known for his hardline views during the pandemic when he described Covid-19 lockdowns as “mass slavery”, media reported at the time.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns urged people to not take the law into their own hands.

“You will be met by the full force of the law if there’s any attempt for tit-for-tat violence in Sydney over the coming days,” Mr Minns said.

Call for calm

AFP verified the video of the April 15 attack as being taken at the Christ The Good Shepherd Church, which has an online following of almost 200,000.

It is located in Sydney’s western suburb of Wakeley, a hub for Sydney’s small Christian Assyrian community, many of whom fled persecution and war in Iraq and Syria.

Mr Minns issued a joint statement with Christian and Muslim leaders calling for calm.

“We’re calling on everyone to act with kindness and respect for each other,” the statement said.

“Now is the time to show that we are strong and united.”

Assyrians trace their roots to an empire that ruled a swathe of the ancient Middle East.

Since that age of empire, they have faced persecution as a religious and ethnic minority distinct from the region’s Arab and Muslim majorities.

There have also been schisms within the local Assyrian community over the teachings of Bishop Emmanuel.

Bishop Emmanuel’s live-streamed sermons attract a global audience and his video clips rack up hundreds of thousands of views online. He became well known for his hardline views during the pandemic when he described lockdowns as “mass slavery”, media reported at the time. A sermon uploaded on YouTube last year showed the bishop criticising Islam.

Lakemba mosque in Sydney’s southwest, one of Australia’s largest, received firebomb threats on Monday night, the Lebanese Muslim Association said.

“We are vigilant ... we’re also asking the police to protect all places of worship. We are worried that there may be attacks on all forms of faith, and that is the last thing we need,” Secretary Gamel Kheir told reporters.

The knife incident was the second major stabbing attack in just three days in Australia’s most populous city after six people were killed in a knife attack at a beachside mall in the Bondi area on April 13.

In that attack, videos shared on social media showed unshaven itinerant Joel Cauchi pursuing mostly female victims as he rampaged through the vast, crowded Westfield shopping complex in Bondi Junction.

A black ribbon was projected onto the Sydney Opera House on April 15 as a mark of respect for the victims of the mall attack. REUTERS, AFP