Siege in Sydney

A gunman is holding hostages in the Lindt Cafe, Martin Place, Sydney. Martin Place is one of the busiest thoroughfares in the Sydney CBD so the surrounding area is in lockdown. I have a couple of friends unable to leave their buildings (one I was meeting for lunch).

There are reports of a visible black flag with white Arabic characters and so people are jumping to conclusions. At this writing there's not enough information (in my opinion) to make any kind of judgement about motivation or the eventual conclusion.

I'm hoping for a peaceful and early resolution to the crisis but there are already reports of anti-Islamic incidents fuelled by ignorance.

This seems to be one of the more responsible sources of information at the moment.