24.4.25 Sydney church stabbing: Religious community tensions run high

[김상태]

The day after the stabbing attack on a bishop, a forensics expert was sweeping a fingerprint brush over a nativity scene by the entrance of the Sydney church.

한 주교에 대한 칼부림 공격이 있던 다음날 법의학 전문가가 시드니 교회 입구에 있는 성탄장면 그림 위를 지문 브러쉬로 쓸고 있다

A small car parked outside Christ The Good Shepherd Church had its window screen smashed in - a reminder of the horrific event that happened in the western Sydney suburb on Monday night and the mob violence that followed.

'선량한 목자인 그리도 교회' 밖에 주차된 한 소형차의 전면 유리창이 박살 나 있어- 월요일 밤에 시드니 서부교회에서 발생한 끔직한 사건과 그 뒤에 이어진 성난 군중들의 폭력을 기억나게 해 준다

Around 19:00 that night, a 16-year-old boy emerged from the congregation of the Orthodox Assyrian Christian church to launch a frenzied attack on the bishop leading the sermon.

Yelling in Arabic "in the name of the Prophet", he stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, and attacked another priest and churchgoers who tried to intervene.

It was all caught on a live stream - beamed out over the internet to the local congregation and beyond, the news spreading quickly in Assyrian, Maronite, Catholic and Coptic Christian communities.

이 장면은 모두 생방송에 잡혀서 인터넷을 통해 지역 대중과 그 너머로 중계되었고 이 뉴스는 아시리아파, 메론파, 가톨릭, 그리고 콥트교 공동체로 빠르게 퍼져 나갔다

Hundreds of supporters then descended on the church - clashing with police who had arrived on the scene by then and detained the teenager. The mob, demanding the teenager be handed over, injured paramedics who were attending the casualties.

Monday night's attack and the frenzy that followed has further shaken Sydney - a city already on edge.

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(There was a big police presence outside the church in the aftermath of Monday's attack)

The Australian city was still grieving a mass public stabbing that had occurred two days earlier. In a shopping centre near Bondi Beach, a man stabbed to death six people, five of them women, and injured a dozen more.

As the nation reels from the two attacks, authorities were quick to point out they were not related.

The Westfield Bondi Junction attack appears to have been an act of violence targeting women by a man with a history of mental health problems, while the church attack was religiously motivated, according to authorities. It was deemed a "terror act", New South Wales state police said.

당국에 의하면 웨스트필드 본다이 교파로에서의 공격은 정신건강 문제의 병력을 가진 한 남성이 여성을 목표로한 폭력행위로 보였으며 교회공격은 종교적인 동기를 가졌다고 한다. 이 사건은 테러행위로 생각한다고 뉴사우스 웨일스 주 경찰은 말했다

Sydney church stabbing was 'terrorist' attack, police say

Who were the victims of the Bondi Junction attack?

They also happened in two very different parts of Sydney.

The Christ the Good Shepherd Church is located in Sydney's western suburbs: home to most of the city's newly arrived migrant communities, a thriving melting pot of cultures, ethnic communities and faiths, where more than half the residents were born outside of Australia.

그리스도 선한 목자교회는 시드니 서부의 교외에 위치해 있고 이곳은 대부분이 새로 도착한 이민자들인 공동체이며 문화, 인종공동체, 신앙의 용광로같은 번성하는 곳으로 거주민의 절반 이상이 호주 이외의 지역에서 태어난 사람들이 사는 곳이다 

In Fowler, the local council district, residents' ancestries reflect that multiculturalism, ranging from Vietnam, China and parts of the Middle East. It is also one of the most religious areas of Sydney, where 25% of the population are Catholics, 19% Buddhist, and 7.5% Muslim, according to the most recent Australian census.

The particular suburb of Wakeley represented the heart of the city's Assyrian Christian community. Just over 40,000 Assyrians live in Australia in total, but more of them live in Wakeley than in any other suburb in the country.

Mostly Christian, Assyrians are native to what was historically Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq and parts of Iran, Turkey and Syria.

Persecuted for their faith, many fled their homelands over the years, escaping genocide and war to arrive in safe countries like Australia.

So the attack on the church in the heart of the Assyrian community on Monday sparked deep-seated concerns and panic.

The Orthodox church leader attacked was widely known in the community. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel had a huge following online, but he was also divisive and controversial for his ultra-conservative views. During the pandemic, he opposed lockdowns and vaccines; he espoused inflammatory views against same-sex marriage and the Islamic faith.

One of his followers described him to the BBC as a straightforward guy. "He tells the truth, based on his belief in his faith and his knowledge," Basim Shamaon said.

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Basim Shamaon, who is originally from Iraq, says the attack was traumatising for many refugees and migrants living in western Sydney

"But we are in Australia - we have freedom of speech. We are in a country where we have to feel safe expressing our views.

"What people saw [on Monday] brought them so many triggers and trauma especially for refugees, migrants and new arrivals," says Mr Shamaon, who is originally from Baghdad. "We don't expect such a thing to happen here."

At the church with her husband and daughter, Merna Taleski told the BBC she'd come to pay her respects to the bishop.

The moment she heard about Monday night's violence, she messaged everyone on her phone. Her mother had fatefully decided at the last minute not to go to the service because she'd been tired, she told the BBC.

"My daughter is nine months old. So at the weekend, I'm thinking I'm not going to the shops any more," says Merna. "And then now it's like, what, do I also stop coming to church?"

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Merna Taleski came to the church with her family to pay their respects to the injured bishop

In Wakeley and across Western Sydney, the atmosphere remains fragile and tense.

Despite the multitude of different ethnic communities, the majority of the time they live harmoniously side by side - a fact praised by local leaders. But the act of violence on Monday shattered that peace.

Muslim community leader Gamel Kheir, from the Lebanese Muslim Association, spoke of such fears.

He had been with the father of the teenage boy in the hours after the attack. The man was shocked and distraught by his son's violence, telling Mr Kheir he had no idea his son had become so radicalised and that there had been no signs at all. Friends of the attacker at school have since said similarly to local media.

"There was nothing he could see that [his son] had gone that far down," Mr Kheir told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

The man had sought shelter at a local mosque that night for he feared he'd be attacked at the family home, Mr Kheir said.

A wave of threats at Muslim places of worship have been reported since then.

Officials at Sydney's largest mosque, Lakemba Mosque, a half hour drive away from the Assyrian church in Wakeley, reported it had been threatened with firebombing.

Meanwhile community group, the Islamophobia Register of Australia, said it had recorded 46 reports of incidents since Saturday - a "significant spike".

That hate has also been driven by misinformation around the Bondi Junction attack where Islamophobes early on labelled the attack as Islamic violence before authorities disclosed the details.

이러한 혐오는 본다이 교차로 공격에 대한 잘못된 정보로 일어난 것인데 이슬람 혐오자들은 경찰당국이 자세한 내용을 밝히기 전에 이 공격을 이슬람 폭력이라고 꼬리표를 부쳤다

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The church is in Western Sydney, an area with a wide range of different faiths and ethnicities

"Nerves are so frayed, when the Bondi attack occurred, we were living in fear that a Muslim was the perpetrator," said Mr Kheir, speaking to the feared backlash.

There are fears now that police identification of Monday's events as a terror act - when the teenager also showed mental health issues - could inflame hate against his community.

"It's not a healthy society. These events divide us - we need to stay united."

Local parliamentarians and leaders in the area are also making similar calls.

"I am acutely aware of the potential for heightened tensions within our diverse and multi-faith community," said Dai Le, the federal MP for the area, who is herself of Vietnamese heritage.

"나는 우리의 다양하고 다종교적인 공동체 내에서 긴장이 높아질 수 있는 가능성을 예리하게 알고 있다" 고 자신이 베트남계이며 이 지역 출신 연방 국회의원인 다이 리가 말했다

She said it was crucial for people to trust police with the investigation and for calm and measured responses.

"I urge everyone in our community to remain peaceful…. It is crucial… that we do not allow fear or anger to divide us."

On Monday, state premier Chris Minns also called an emergency meeting of religious leaders from Muslim and Christian faiths and others to show unity.

All leaders "endorsed and supported a unanimous condemnation of violence in any form, called for the community to follow first responder and police instructions, and called for calm in the community," Mr Minns said.

모든 지도자들은 "어떤 형태의 폭력에도 일치된 비난을 찬성하고 지지하며  지역사회에서 응급구조대와 경찰의 지시를 따를것을 요구하며 공동체가 침착할것을 바린다"고 민스 총리는 말했다