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By Sonali Paul and Alison Bevege
MELBOURNE / SYDNEY (Reuters) – Thousands of people attended commemorative ceremonies held in Melbourne in commemoration of the centenary of the Armistice ending the First World War.
More people than expected attended the ceremony at the Shrine of Remembrance, anxious to show that they had not been stooped by Friday's knife attack against three civilians, including one deadly, by the Islamic State sympathizer Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, 30 years old.
"Keep going," Kate Mansell told Reuters, the mother of a toddler and a baby in a stroller.
"Life goes on," said Alison Brett, visiting Melbourne from the Northern Territory (Australia).
Her daughter, Belinda, who lives near the shrine, said she was not afraid to be in public after Friday's attack.
"You can not let that stop you," she says.
At the shrine on the other side of the river, after the scene of the attack on Bourke Street, a discreet but increased police presence kept a crowd of about 4,000 people.
Melbourne's Pellegrini Espresso Bar, filled with flower arrangements left by people in mourning, remained closed on Sunday as the public laid flowers on the sidewalk and wrote tributes on sheets of stationery, glued with pain in front of the door. door.
The café belonged to the famous restaurateur Sisto Malaspina, aged 74, who was stabbed to death after being forced to help Shire Ali, mistakenly thinking that the car of the attacker was down, according to witnesses cited by ABC News.
Shire Ali had lit the car, full of gas cylinders, but it did not explode.
On Saturday, the chief commissioner of the Victorian police, Graham Ashton, said the attack was a terrorism inspired by the Islamic State.
On Sunday, Werribee Imam Islamic Center Isse Musse, a family friend for 25 years who had not seen Shire Ali for 14 years, said his family had told him that Shire Ali was suffering from an illness. mental illness.
"They say he has a mental problem," he told Reuters.
"If someone is mentally ill, he can be a prey to any propaganda, any misinterpretation … but what can we do?" The family worked hard to take him to the doctor so that He was diagnosed but he refused and would not cooperate.
"We are very disappointed with the event … we express our sympathy to all those who have been victimized."
In the capital, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the head of the Defense Forces, General Angus Campbell, as well as other military and diplomats attended a Remembrance Day ceremony at the War Memorial. Australia.
"As we commemorate the centennial of the Armistice and think over the years, we know too well the deep scars of war and wish to keep them from touching the Australian soul," Morrison said in a speech. television.
Copyright 2018 Thomson Reuters.
