Sydney, Australia – ISIS is a topic that has commanded the headlines of major newspapers across the globe, signaling that it is not an issue of terror that will simple evaporate from the glasses of people’s minds. The recent hostage situation in Sydney serves as a well-substantiated piece of evidence and another fragment of fear that stirs the pot of debate. After a 16-hour standoff, the police were able to end the conflict with the gunman, Man Haron Monis, dead and two innocent hostages also, unfortunately, deceased. This event occurred on Monday, when the streets of Sydney are at its capacity due to rush hour. Initially, there were 17 hostages, but five were able to escape the Lindt Chocolate Café that they had been held captive in.
Monis’s history proves to be no surprise when correlating it with the hostage situation. There is record of him being aligned with extremist ideals and was even evaluated to be mentally unstable. In addition, in 2009, Monis was charged with sending harassing letters to Australian families of fallen soldiers, calling them “murderers” and “Hitler’s soldiers” and also for using the postal service to disrupt the lives of others. In 2013, he was also charged with killing his ex-wife although there has not been any decision yet and earlier this year, he was accused of sexually harassing a woman who had gone to his office for consulting. Officials believe that this act of terror was not one that was organized as part of a bigger plan because although Monis identified with ISIS and pledged his allegiance, he was not part of ISIS. However, one might add that Australia has received warnings from the Islamic State group about supposed “lone wolf” attacks in which they asked members to kill non-believers, specifically in Australia.
As an interesting side-note, customers in Sydney of Uber, a taxi service, experienced a cost spike during the incident if they wanted to leave the city. Their average prices were almost quadrupled, as the lowest price at one point became $100. Later, Uber apologized for this “surge pricing” as it is activated immediately during times of high demand. They asked people who had used their services during the incident and had had to pay these prices to email them and receive compensation. In addition, they promised to allow free services to those wanting to leave the city during the crisis.