Sydney hostage crisis spawns solidarity hashtag #IllRideWithYou
The alleged gunman, an Iranian, had seized a crowded cafe in Sydney before police stormed it early Tuesday morning. Australians have offered to travel in public with Muslims so as to defuse any anti-Islamic tensions.
The alleged gunman, an Iranian, had seized a crowded cafe in Sydney before police stormed it early Tuesday morning. Australians have offered to travel in public with Muslims so as to defuse any anti-Islamic tensions.
Australians have used social media to show their support for Muslims after an聽Iranian gunman seized a Sydney caf茅,聽fanning fears of an potential anti-Islam backlash.聽
The hashtag #IllRideWithYou took off Monday local time in Australia and quickly trended worldwide, generating 40,000 tweets in just two hours and more than 170,000 overall.聽
It started with a Facebook post by Rachel Jacobs, who said a Muslim woman sitting next to her on a train in Sydney had聽quietly taken off her headscarf.聽
"I ran after her at the train station. I said 'put it back on. I'll walk with u',鈥� Ms. Jacobs wrote on Facebook. 鈥淪he started to cry and hugged me for about a minute 鈥� then walked off alone.鈥�
Jacobs post was followed by a tweet from Sydney TV content editor Tessa Kum: "If you reg take the #373 bus b/w Coogee/MartinPl, wear religious attire, & don't feel safe alone: I'll ride with you. @ me for schedule.鈥� Moments later she added, "Maybe start a hashtag? What's in #illridewithyou?鈥�
The hashtag soon took off, spawning a flood of offers from Australians to ride with any Muslims who worried about being targeted for their faith as a result of the hostage crisis. Adopted by non-Australians, the hashtag has now become a general plea for tolerance and solidarity.
Muslims in Australia and across the world expressed their appreciation for the outpouring of support on social media:
Police stormed the caf茅 in Sydney early Tuesday morning local time, ending the siege by a gunman identified as an Iranian refuge. There were no immediate reports of injuries, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
While Australia is on high alert for terrorist attacks, the gunman鈥檚 actual聽motive remains unknown. As the 海角大神 Science Monitor鈥檚 John Kubrycki reports:
Social media users in Australia also took to Twitter on Monday to express outrage over the alternative taxi service Uber, which raised its rates in Sydney during the siege. Many condemned the company for allegedly taking advantage of an emergency. Uber, which links drivers to riders via a phone app,聽quickly responded to the outrage in a press statement, according to The New York Times.
鈥淪urge pricing is algorithmic and responded automatically to the large increase in demand for Uber rides out of the C.B.D.,鈥� it said, referring to the central business district. 鈥淎s soon as we became aware of the situation, we capped it and made all rides free to people leaving Sydney鈥檚 C.B.D. Uber is paying for these rides. If riders got charged surge pricing earlier, we will refund it.鈥�