Up to 30 staff and customers are being held at a cafe in Sydney's CBD surrounded by heavily armed New South Wales police. Some inside the cafe were apparently forced to stand at the café's windows holding up a flag bearing what appears to be the Islamic creed.
The Guardian: Three hostages flee Martin Place cafe in Sydney (LIVE)
A policeman guards a road leading to a cafe in the central business district of Sydney on December 15, 2014. A gunman was holding terrified hostages inside a Sydney cafe December 15 with an Islamic flag displayed at the window, triggering a lockdown in an area home to government and corporate headquarters.
