Sydney: Australia´s prime minister vowed Thursday to stamp out extremism as the nation mourned the youngest victim of the Bondi Beach shooting, a 10-year-old girl remembered as “our little ray of sunshine”.
Father-and-son gunmen are accused of firing into crowds at a beachside Jewish festival on Sunday, killing 15 in an attack authorities linked to “Islamic State ideology”. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised a sweeping crackdown to banish the “evil of antisemitism from our society”.
“It is clear we need to do more to combat this evil scourge,” he told reporters. This included new powers to target extremist preachers and to refuse or cancel visas for those who spread hate and division.
Australia would develop a system for listing organisations with leaders who engage in hate speech, he said. “Serious vilification” based on race would become a federal offence.
Hours after the prime minister spoke, police said they intercepted two cars in Sydney following a tip that a “violent act was possibly being planned”.
New South Wales state police said seven men were “assisting police”, but the force had not immediately identified a connection to the Bondi Beach attack probe.
Mourners gathered Thursday for the funeral of 10-year-old Matilda, the youngest victim killed in the attack.
“Matilda is our little ray of sunshine,” said the rabbi leading the service, reading a message from her school. She “brightened everyone´s day with her radiant smile and infectious laugh.” Mourners clutched bouquets of lilies as they filed into Sydney´s Chevra Kadisha Memorial Hall, a Jewish funeral home.
Photos taken in the hours before the first bullets were fired showed Matilda stroking animals at a petting zoo and smiling after having her face painted.
Matilda´s family -- who have asked media not to publish their last name -- left Ukraine to settle in Australia.
“I couldn´t imagine I would lose my daughter here. It´s just a nightmare,” mother Valentyna told reporters ahead of the funeral.
Her father, Michael, said they chose Matilda´s name as a nod to Australia, where the beloved folk song “Waltzing Matilda” is sung as an unofficial national anthem.
“Matilda was our firstborn here in Australia,” he said earlier this week. “And I thought that Matilda was the most Australian name that could ever exist. “So just remember. Remember her name.”
