2014 Sydney hostage crisis
After the siege began, a staged exclusion zone was established with thousands of people evacuated from nearby buildings, including from the floors above the café. The Sydney Opera House was evacuated after a suspicious package was found; however, reports were unconfirmed by police. The US Consulate General in Sydney, located in Martin Place, was also evacuated. Some Sydney schools were put in "white level lockout" due to the hostage situation, which meant that no school group was permitted to leave the school grounds.
Occupy Sydney
Some of the major themes common to the protests included economic inequality, the alleged assault upon civil liberties at the hands of government and law enforcement, social injustice, corruption in the financial sector, corporate greed, and the influence of companies and lobbyists on government. Other issues that past and current participants have expressed include concerns with free assembly in public spaces, housing affordability and homelessness in Sydney, the treatment of Australia's indigenous people, and policies regarding the acceptance of asylum-seekers and refugees. Some within the Occupy movement (Sydney and abroad) have also espoused conspiratorial viewpoints.