The prime minister of Australia proposed on Tuesday to grant citizenship to a French visitor who valiantly repelled a knife-wielding assailant at a Sydney mall by using only a bollard.
Following the incident on Saturday that left six people—including a Pakistani—dead and twelve more wounded, Damien Guerot has been hailed as a “hero” and “bollard man”.
Acknowledging Guerot’s “extraordinary bravery” in confronting Joel Cauchi on an escalator and stopping the 40-year-old assailant from reaching further victims, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese singled him out for praise on Tuesday.
Albanese addressed Damien Guerot, the person handling his visa applications, saying, “You are welcome here, and you are welcome to stay for as long as you like.”
“We would be happy to see this person become an Australian citizen, even if France would obviously suffer as a result. We are appreciative of his remarkable bravery.
“That someone who is not a citizen of this country stood bravely at the top of those escalators and stopped this perpetrator from getting onto another floor and potentially inflicting further carnage on citizens says a lot about the nature of humanity at a time when we are facing difficult issues,” Albanese said.
The incident on Saturday, which happened in a crowded mall in the eastern suburbs of the city, stunned Australians.
There has been no accusation of terrorism in connection with the killing of five women and one Pakistani security officer during the attack.
Given that Cauchi had a history of mental illness, police are looking into whether he particularly targeted women.
However, the kindness of strangers supporting one another during the assault and the bravery of police officer Amy Scott, who went it alone and shot Cauchi, gave the Australians and Albanese some comfort.
“I believe that on Saturday, we witnessed both such terrible tragedy and some of the best aspects of human nature,” Albanese stated.
