Thousands of mourners gathered at vigils across Australia on Monday evening to commemorate the 15 victims of the terror attack at Sydney's Bondi beach. The largest vigil took place at the Bondi Pavilion, where Rabbi Yossi Shuchat lit a five-foot-high menorah, telling the crowd: 'Lightness will always persevere, darkness cannot continue where there is light.'
National cabinet has agreed to tighten gun laws in the wake of the mass shooting, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed. 'I am absolutely ready for the fight' to pursue major reform, he said, as the Five Eyes intelligence network—comprising the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand—will assist in investigating the attack.
Albanese revealed that one of the alleged shooters, 24-year-old Naveed Akram, was investigated by the domestic intelligence agency Asio in 2019 over possible extremist links. 'Asio investigated him, found that he wasn't subject to ongoing monitoring. They interviewed him, his family members, people around him,' Albanese said. Two of Akram's associates were jailed, but he was not deemed a 'person of interest' at the time.
The other alleged gunman, Naveed's father Sajid Akram, was shot dead by police at the scene. Naveed remains in hospital, and NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon expects to charge him in the coming days. Twenty-five people are still hospitalised, including Ahmed al-Ahmed, who tackled and wrestled a gun from one of the attackers. A GoFundMe page for al-Ahmed's family has raised more than $1.3 million.
Vigils also took place at the Chabad of Bondi synagogue, where one of the victims, Eli Schlanger, served as assistant rabbi, and at the Caulfield Shule in Melbourne, attended by over 2,000 people including federal and state politicians. Rabbi Effy Block described his congregation as reeling from 'broken hearts, deep shock, and profound grief.'
