The father of a 16-year-old accused of stabbing two Christian clerics in Australia saw no signs of his son’s extremism, a Muslim community leader has said.

The boy spoke in Arabic about the Prophet Muhammad after he appeared to stab Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and the Reverend Isaac Royel during a church service in Sydney on Monday, which was being streamed online.

Neither cleric suffered life-threatening injuries.

The boy, who was overpowered by the Orthodox Assyrian congregation, remains in an undisclosed hospital under police guard. He suffered severe hand wounds in the struggle.

After the incident, officials said around 600 people gathered outside Christ the Good Shepherd Church demanding revenge, throwing objects and preventing police from taking the teenager outside.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Lebanese Muslim Association secretary Gamel Kheir, an advocate for Sydney’s largest Muslim community, said he spent two hours with the boy’s distraught father at the family home after the attack.

Mr Kheir told Australian Broadcasting Corp the father “was in shock”.

He added: “He was not aware of any signs of becoming more extreme other than the fact that he was becoming more disobedient to his father. But that was about it.

“He didn’t see any tell-tale signs, so to speak.”

The family of the boy have since left their home for fear of retaliation.

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Mr Kheir is among several community leaders who have accused police of unnecessarily raising community tensions with a premature declaration the attack fitted the definition of a terrorist act under New South Wales state law.

“I’m concerned that we’ve rushed to a pre-judgment of a 16-year-old child,” he said.

“He used the language of religion, we’re not debating that at all. In a sense that he targeted another religion, that’s not debatable.

“What’s debatable is what mental state was this child in? Was he of a sane mind to even make such a rational call?

“All we’re saying is, surely there was time for the police to do a more thorough investigation and a review before they labelled it a terrorist act.”

New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb stood by her declaration of a terrorist incident, saying she was “satisfied, based on the information that was provided”.

Of the rioting afterwards, she added: “Not all those people there were rioting against the police, but those people who were, they can expect to be identified and arrested and put before the courts.”

Read more from Sky News:
‘Carnage’ at Dubai airport
Are we heading for World War Three?

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

The Lebanese Muslim Association runs Australia’s largest mosque in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba, where security has been increased.

Security has also been tightened at shopping centres around Australia after 40-year-old lone assailant Joel Cauchi stabbed six people to death at Sydney’s Westfield Bondi Junction mall on Saturday.

Related posts:

What is Sharia law and how has the Taliban interpreted it? Ottawa police chief resigns as Trudeau invokes emergency powers to crack down on trucker protests Kim makes appearance as North Korea celebrates his late father’s birthday Earthquake hits popular holiday island of Madeira British journalist reveals he lost half a leg and a foot in bombing that killed two colleagues Argentina’s vice president jailed for corruption – but won’t actually head behind bars 100m-high wall of sand towers above Chinese region during storm UK defence spending as share of GDP falls despite Russia’s war in Ukraine Cat killing competition for children cancelled after backlash More than 250,000 flee Sudan safe zone after takeover by militia responsible for Darfur destruction Relatives of Israeli hostages storm parliament Iran could claim symbolic victory – but Israel’s defence held against ambitious attack