Muslim groups claim double standards in police handling of two high-profile stabbings in Sydney

By KEIRAN SMITH
Associated Press

NEWCASTLE, Australia (AP) — Muslim groups in Australia have criticized the disparity in the police response to two stabbing attacks in Sydney this month, saying it created a perception of a double standard and further alienated the country’s minority Muslim community. The Australian National Imams Council said Friday that an attack at a Bondi Junction shopping center was quickly deemed a mental health issue while the stabbing of a Christian bishop at a Sydney church two days later was classified as a terrorist act almost immediately. A 16-year-old boy is accused of repeatedly stabbing the bishop and a priest, and five other teenage boys have been charged with terrorism offenses and accused of following a violent extremist religious ideology.