great time to do a robbery and clean out the files.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/lindt-chocolat-cafe-hostage-drama-in-martin-place-sydney-20141215-1278cx.html

11:40am: From the Herald's court reporter, Paul Bibby: The NSW Supreme Court's criminal courts on King Street in the CBD have been evacuated, as has have scores of staff from the NSW Crown Solicitor's office.

A number of prominent barristers chambers have also been evacuated, including the Seventh Floor Garfield Barwick Chambers in Martin Place and the Wentworth Chambers.

Other legal chambers such as Sir Owen Dixon have been locked down, along with dozens of government and commercial buildings in the blocks surrounding the siege, including the Reserve Bank and the NSW Department of Transport.

Some staff say they have been moved out of their offices to the "safe" side of their buildings away from the café.

Edited by wamackie: 15/12/2014 03:21:56 PM

I have honestly been thinking all day that this seems like a perplexing hostage situation, no demands have been made, no contact met, basically not much information has come out at all, over such a long period of time no less.

Feels like one big massive distraction.

-PB

Yep, was thinking this exact thing too.

They might be trying to distract us from another impending attack. I think major tourist attractions and government buildings have been evacuated though.

lol.

So true.

And surely the raids in NSW today weren't just pure coincidence (although I believe the Police Commissioner said otherwise? Not sure didn't see the full press conference).

-PB

What raids?

Fair few reports now that 2 or 3 hostages have left the cafe.

Weren't their terror raids completed this morning? Must have miss-read.

-PB

Police reporter for the ABC says 2 people came out the front door of the cafe and another out the fire escape door.

Hadley was claiming there was, but pretty sure it was proved false.

^^ A Smart Operator ^^

People bailing out the fire escape. Doesn't seem like this guy has crowd control?

Hopefully they can confirm how many people there are inside now.

-PB

Ahh k, thought I had seen it on news.com.au

Explains everything haha.

-PB

Police have confirmed 3 hostages have left the cafe.

Did they escape or were they let go

Got the idea from Homeland.

Channel 9 saying they escaped

PB's no dill. All I'm saying is that some key buildings have been evacuated today. If it's a solo man/mission doing this, how far does the cut off zone need to be?

This.

-PB

Not denying or playing it down at all, just saying that this was a technique used in homeland. It could even just be a test to see what the police reaction/presence is like.

What an utter cunt.

i bet his on the dole

onya ralphy, EXACTLY what is needed at this point in time :-$

Enflammmeeeeee

-PB

So many idiots in the media. Make me sick how many people have jumped.

Two more hostages out.

Australia needs the death penalty.

the fuck.

Have ABC24 on. All the other stations reporting is disgraceful.