2014 Sydney hostage crisis
The 2014 Sydney hostage crisis, also known as the Sydney siege and Lindt Cafe siege, occurred on 15–16 December 2014 when a lone gunman, Man Haron Monis, held hostage ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt chocolate café located at Martin Place in Sydney, Australia. Police treated the event as a terrorist attack at the time, but Monis' motives were subsequently debated. However, the findings of the Coroner in 2017 deemed the event to be a terrorist attack.
Sydney lockout laws
In October 2016, around 4,000 people attended another Keep Sydney Open protest calling for the NSW Government to lift lockout laws. Organisers said that the laws alienated young people and destroyed the live music scene, all while allowing The Star casino to remain open. A third Keep Sydney Open rally was planned for January 2017, but NSW Police summarily shut the rally down by making a last minute application to the New South Wales Supreme Court for a "prohibition order" under the "Summary Offences Act" 1988.