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A Sydney resident has told Fairfax Media how she spent the morning in lockdown in the CBD while police responded to a terrorist attack at the nearby Lindt Chocolat Café on Monday morning.
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The woman, who was working in the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet office, which is in the same building as Sydney’s Channel 7 studio, became aware of the situation around 10am.
"A lot of mothers were calling their children who are on school holidays during the lockdown."
- A worker who was locked down in Martin Place.
“I had just gone to get a coffee and on the way back in we saw police in the lift and the siren was activated,” she said.
“We were told to remain on our floor with no access to the lifts or the fire escapes and to stay away from the windows.”
The witness said the people in the office were anxious with a lot of mothers calling their children who are on school holidays.
“It was quite scary as there was not much information from officials,” she said.
“We were kept in the dark and turned to the media for our information.
“It was worrying to see what was being said on social media because we did not know what was true and what was not.”
At 9.45am, a gunman stormed into the busy Lindt Chocolat Café in Martin Place and took customers and staff hostage.
The woman said as police began to take control of the situation an evacuation started with the Premier being taken from the building first.
“A colleague of mine could see some people being escorted down the street by police and realised they were evacuating the building floor by floor,” she said.
“After two hours we were given the signal to move.
“Once we got out onto the street it was chaotic to see the big police trucks, tactical response officers with weapons and sniffer dogs.”
She said once they were safely away from the scene, the police directed them to go home.
“The police officers seemed calm but they moved quickly and were keen to get everyone out of harm’s way as soon as they could,” she said.
“The evacuation was organised very well and we were kept in fast moving groups the whole time.
“I’m now at home watching the coverage and my thoughts are with all those still in the café – I just hope they will all be okay.”
