Sydney hostages pleaded for sick, elderly, young

The Sydney hostages pleaded for help - for those among them who were pregnant, sick and elderly. Also for those who were young and deserved a shot at a decent life.After a gunman took 17 hostages at a downtown cafe on Monday, he used them to try to make his strange demands through social and mainstream media: to be delivered a flag of the Islamic State group and to speak directly with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.Video links were quickly removed from YouTube and other conversations went unpublished by newspapers and radio stations while the drama unfolded, lest they compromise the police response.The 16-hour siege ended on Tuesday in a barrage of gunfire that left the gunman and two hostages dead.