Published
9 years agoon
By
Kulan PostSYDNEY–A lone gunman took unknown number of people hostage in a Sydney café Monday morning. The siege ended with the death of two hostages and the hostage-taker after over 16-hour stand-off between the gunmen identified as an Iranian refugee Man Haron Monis and the Sydney police.
Amid the crisis and the hostage situation in the ice cream cafe, Twitter and Facebook users initiated a campaign to show the world compassion and humanity in the face of difficulty. A hashtag, #Illridewithyou, was started in solidarity with Muslims living in the country when the gunman forced hostages to hold up a black flag with Arabic inscription indicating Islamic proclamation of faith for the news cameras.
The solidarity campaign started after a commuter at a Sydney train station saw a Muslim woman quietly removing her scarf (Hijab) for fear of reprisal.
The hashtag trended rapidly on Twitter on a global scale and in response, Australia’s race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane said he was heartened by the campaign adding, “Let’s not allow fear, hatred and division to triumph.”
On Monday, during the 16 hours of the siege at a downtown cafe, a Muslim group reported instances of people spitting at women wearing traditional Islamic clothing. Over 40 Muslim groups in the country distanced Islam from the incident.
See some of the captivating tweets: