Australia’s largest city, Sydney, was swarmed with thousands of police on New Year’s Eve after a botched response to an Islamic terror attack that cost 15 people their lives.
New South Wales police headquarters said there would be 2,500 officers on duty for the festivities, according to the BBC. The significant ramp-up in security for the major public event comes after the Bondi Beach terror attack that killed 15 and injured 40 more. Authorities have faced widespread criticism for the handling of the attack, with multiple accounts of a botched responses and poor decisions stirring international controversy.
Some survivors of the terror attack allege that police were slow to intervene and prevented bystanders from helping. One woman said she was stopped from fighting back, and accused officers of “just standing there, listening and watching this all happen, holding me back.” Despite such actions, unarmed bystanders were able to help stop the attack anyway, with one man literally wrestling a gun out of one of the shooters’ hands.
Although at least one of the attackers was an immigrant from Pakistan, the Australian government has made no meaningful moves on immigration security or vetting for possible terrorists. Instead, and despite the life-saving intervention of civilian bystanders, Australia has inexplicably chosen to launch a crackdown on legal gun ownership.
The Australian government has determined that the attack, which targeted a Jewish community on Hannukah, was Islamist violence inspired by ISIS rhetoric. Multiple flags of the terrorist group were found in vehicles used by the attackers.
For the New Year’s Eve celebration, officers were authorized to carry heavier weapons kits during patrols as part of heightened security measures following the attack.
Representatives for the New South Wales Police Force did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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