Martin Place 8AM. Different Forever.
It’s been a long time since I have been on a crime scene, however going to Martin Place today at 8AM reminded me a good 15 years on of the exact way it used to feel. There was the crime scene tape, police guarding the area, AFP, NSW Police and Plain Clothes Detectives working the scenes and even though there was people everywhere it had the feeling of walking through a tomb.
Besides the squawks of Police Communications and Journalists Live Broadcasts – you could almost hear a pin drop and the feelings of sadness were very intense for not only myself, but I am sure everyone around me.
I think when one lives in Australia, we are so cut off from the rest of the world – it’s only “Natural” to assume this thing won’t happen to us. But it did. Many accused the government of creating unnecessary panic when it raised the nations alert level – but it turned out they were 110% correct in their thinking.
At the scene today, looking on – in words I wrote straight onto my Facebook Page at the time, I tried my best to capture the sorrow and pain many of us were feeling at that moment:
Sitting here at Martin Place now, right here at the edge of the Police zone and it’s a quiet and sad sight understandably. The are detectives, Federal Police and NSW Boys in Blue everywhere talking, collecting evidence and sorting through things. It’s like walking into a tomb, you can feel the sorrow, the sadness and almost the fear of what transpired here at 2:10AM this morning. I couldn’t even imagine what the hostages must have felt during that ordeal and well done to our “Boys & Girls in Blue” – they have done an amazing and professional job in an extreme and sad situation. — feeling sad.
Saying that it’s been a long day for myself is hardly anything compared to the families and victims of the crime from last night and I certainly feel for them.
In this terrible sadness, what I have found inspirational about today is the strength of the Australian Spirit and people. You have had many protect innocent Muslims from bigotry / racial / religiously motivated attacks, people of all nationalities placing flowers as a monument to the fallen and even the media has taken a great respectful stand on this matter.
It will be interesting seeing where things go from here – however I feel that this experience is going to help bring us all together as a society. Dangerous extremists from all religions, faiths and nationalities are our enemy within and we must stand against them.
RIP to the fallen and congratulations to the NSW Police, AFP and the Australian Intelligence Agencies for their great work – we are lucky to have them protect us.
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