Muslims feel 'set up' by police after IS flag request
Muslims say they feel they were 'set up' by NSW Police when they were asked to help find an ISIS flag during the Sydney siege.
Lindt Cafe gunman Man Haron Monis demanded a flag in exchange for a hostage.
NSW Police Counter-Terrorism got in touch with Islamic activist Rebecca Lay and asked her to help find a flag, reports Fairfax media.
She agreed to the difficult task and says she knew it would be hard to find a person willing to admit to owning a flag related to the terror group.
Ms Lay said she called as many as 50 people because she was ‘ready to jump’ to help the police prevent a tragedy.
She told Fairfax her contacts soon started getting suspicious and asking her ‘Are we being set up?’ and some accused her of being an informant.
Ms Lay said the police officer called her back several times in the next hour to see if she had been successful.
He told her to take the flag to Bankstown Police station as soon as possible and it would be taken to the city by a police car with blue lights on.
NSW Police later told her they found her own flag but that they would not be negotiating with Monis.
Monis forced the hostages to put his demands on social media along with his wish to speak to Prime Minister Tony Abbott on the phone and have it broadcast on the radio live.
At the time of the deadly shootout NSW Police searched the home of one of the men Ms Lay contacted, reports Fairfax.
Cafe manager Tori Johnson, who tried to wrestle the gun off Monis, was shot dead and lawyer Katrina Dawson died after a bullet shot by the police ricocheted hit her in the chest.
Ms Lay said the man considered handing over his flag but he then thought he was being set up.
She now believes she has burnt many bridges with her own community.
The activist was then told police had carried out two more raids on homes of men she had contacted for help.
Ms Lay said: "Obviously, they were listening to all our phone calls.
"I want to be able to have dealings with police … but when it gets thrown back in your face, it sets us back two steps."
Police would not respond to questions from Fairfax about the flag.
Ms Kay defended the flag, frequently depicted by ISIS in videos, saying ‘there is nothing sinister’ about it and says ‘it's not our fault that these barbarians have taken it as their flag’.
She added that she wants to be able to trust the police but with what happened during the siege ‘they have not built trust at all’.
