Sydney Hostage Crisis: #IllRideWithYou Gains Popularity As Commuters Pledge To Support Muslims
From the archive: published Dec 15, 2014, 11 years ago. Details may have changed since.
The Sydney hostage crisis has sparked a movement among the city’s commuters to protect Muslim riders from harassment, with the hashtag #IllRideWithYou gaining popularity worldwide, and leading to hundreds of thousands of tweets in just a few hours.
The sentiment was a response to the hostage crisis in Sydney, with an apparent Muslim extremist taking hostages in a popular cafe.
Sydney residents said #IllRideWithYou was a way for them to support Muslims, especially those wearing traditional Muslim garb, from harassment on the city’s public transportation.
“I saw one tweet that was just a very small act of kindness to a frightened Muslim women on public transport and it pretty much broke my heart,” Tessa Kum told BBC News . “And it just seemed like something that there should be more of in the world. I can’t say that I planned this at all. It has been amazing to watch this take off.”
A Muslim lady took off her scarf out of fear after the Sydney Siege & is comforted by strangers. #illridewithyou pic.twitter.com/JJbPhn0YKh
— _ (@Sumi_hasan) December 15, 2014
Many of them left specific times they would be traveling.
On the #612X Towers/North Sydney 7am #illridewithyou if you don’t feel safe
— SlightlySammi (@slightlysammi) December 15, 2014
Marrickville to Wynyard 8:14am #illridewithyou
— Maree Hurley (@mareehurley) December 15, 2014
The #IllRideWithYou movement was also tied to other acts of kindness.
14 Dec: Australian Muslim youth handed out 2000 flowers and 3600 water bottles to ppl in sydney #illridewithyou pic.twitter.com/22ikQczgnX
— Mina (@mina_ysf) December 15, 2014
But the campaign was not popular with everyone. In the wake of the Sydney hostage crisis, many criticized the idea or looked at it as a way to deflect blame from the perpetrators of the siege.
@Kimmaree13 Who are the idiots trending #illridewithyou.Are they delusional?How can you ride along a terrorist who can blow u on ur way.
— Deepak Tiwari (@_deepaktiwari) December 15, 2014
But even after the Sydney hostage crisis ended, the #IllRideWithYou movement remains strong, with thousands of new tweets each hour.