Workers return to Martin Place as Sydney siege ends

AS SYDNEY wakes up to another beautiful day, there’s a feeling that something isn’t quite right.

Siege

JOGGERS and cyclists out for their morning exercise are the first sign things are returning to normal in Sydney’s central city.

But then they come up against the police cordons that have sealed off Martin Place and the streets that surround it since the siege began almost 24 hours ago.

“It doesn’t feel, or seem, real to me, ” Adam, who didn’t want his surname used, said.

He normally jogs through the CBD each morning because he “loves watching the city wake up”.

Not today though. “It’s definitely like the day after something big has happened, something bad. There are far fewer people around.”

This morning heavily armed police stormed the Martin Place cafe where gunman Man Haron Monis had been holding hostages since just before 10am on Monday. Three people including the gunman were killed.

Barriers remain on Elizabeth St close to the Lindt Cafe @newscomauHQ pic.twitter.com/8JCjRv2mPX

— Andrew Koubaridis (@akoubaridis) December 15, 2014

David Frost, from Brisbane, was staying close to the siege and was woken by sirens just after 2am.

“I’ve been there, to the Lindt Cafe before. It’s a lovely place to visit. It’s just horrifying to think what has happened in there.”

Media standing at the cordons desperate for any new information — or a new vantage point — vastly outnumber members of the public.

City office workers evacuated from their building yesterday at the height of the drama were waiting at the cordon on Elizabeth St at 5.30am to get in. But police told them to wait longer, frustrating some.

“Our general manger is already in our building,” one said as she left to try her luck at another cordon. Martin Pl itself is deserted — the area between the Lindt Cafe and the Channel 7 building is empty aside from a small group of police standing at the entrance to the cafe.

Martin Place near the Lindt Cafe still behind cordons. Police can be seen standing outside the cafe. pic.twitter.com/RRwcWEZT9C

— Andrew Koubaridis (@akoubaridis) December 15, 2014

Roads immediately around Martin Pl are closed or reduced to single lane.

So far there is an absence of rubberneckers trying to get close to the action like was seen yesterday when the siege was happening.