Northlanders tell of siege

Riki Maheno, from Kaitaia, took this picture of the cordon around the Lindt Cafe in Sydney after getting evacuated form his nearby workplace as the hostage drama unfolded. Photo / Riki Maheno

Recent reports of alleged terrorism offences in Sydney signalled a harbinger to Northlander Elsa Hunt of worse things to come.

Her fears were realised yesterday morning when up to 13 hostages were being held in an armed siege in a Sydney cafe, forcing nearby buildings such as the Opera House to be evacuated and public transport to be diverted.

Riki Maheno from Kaitaia was working in Australia Square, just a few hundred metres from where the hostage drama unfolded in Martin Pl.

"I was working in Australia Square. We just got evacuated," Mr Maheno said on Facebook.

A man wearing a headband covered in Arabic writing walked into the Lindt Cafe in Martin Pl and produced a shotgun from a blue bag around 9.45am Sydney time. Shortly afterwards hostages were seen with their hands pressed against the windows holding up the Shahada flag belonging to the extremist group Jabhat al-Nusra, which is fighting the Assad government in Syria.

Ms Hunt works as an office manager for a digital marketing company on York St, about two blocks from Martin Pl. The former Whangarei Heads resident moved across the ditch in February and said although police presence on Martin Pl was massive, there was no reason for people to fear for their lives.

"It's got to be someone who's either very passionate about Isis [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] or someone linked to it," she said, referring to the hostage-taker. Ms Hunt said a few things such as demonstrations and links by Australians to Isis over the past four months had got her worried about threats of terrorism in Sydney. She walked past the Lindt Cafe about 8.30am yesterday on her way to work and was informed about the siege about an hour later. She didn't plan to go out of her workplace during the day but said she might have to walk a bit to catch either a bus or taxi to get home after work. "As a Kiwi, [terrorism] is not something you consider as being an issue because it's never happened in New Zealand. But Sydney being such a big, global city connected to other similar cities the potential of something like this happening is a possibility," she said.

Mark Smith, Whangarei-based general manager of group finance services for APN News and Media, had just landed in Sydney on a business trip when he heard about the hostage siege while travelling to his meeting venue in a taxi.

"It's a bit of a concern although we're about 3km away from Martin Pl. We have security in the building I am in but can't see anything unusual in the city from here."

Mr Smith said getting to his hotel could become problematic.

Another Northlander in Sydney, Carli Remkes, wrote on the Northern Advocate Facebook page: "It's eerie ... a lot of people evacuated."