SYDNEY — Two men were arrested after the car in which they were travelling crashed into pedestrians on a busy Melbourne street Thursday, leaving up to 19 people injured, media reports said.
The motive of the incident was not clear immediately. Sky News reported police arrested the driver of the white Suzuki SUV that plowed into the crowd and another man who was in the vehicle with him.
Sky News said the driver was of Middle Eastern appearance and that he was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed after his vehicle crashed into a bollard by a cable car stop around 4:40 p.m.
Media reports said 13 people have been taken to hospitals, including a pre-school aged child in serious condition with head injuries.
Witnesses told Sky News the car ran a red light, speeded up and struck pedestrians on Flinders Street in the Melbourne central business district.
"As it (the car) approached this intersection ... it just mowed everybody down, people were flying everywhere," one witness who identified herself only as Sue told radio station 3AW.
Victorian state police said in a statement they had "saturated the ... area in the vicinity of Flinders, Elizabeth and Swanston streets to ensure community safety."
The area was busy with Christmas shoppers at the time of the incident.
This is obviously another vehicle ramming terror attack like the ones that happened in Nice, Belgium, and Germany. Not only that I think one or both of the suspects arrested were of middle eastern descent and adding onto that calls from Daesh to attack people on Christian holiday of Christmas. I wonder why they think this well stop people or whatever their goal is it obviously isn't working at all even if people are killed or injured the majority of people never bow out of fear. So what do y'all think?
ModEdit: Have merged the two threads started independently a few minutes apart.
