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Melbourne attack: People raise more than £70,000 for homeless ‘Trolleyman’ hero

Melbourne attack: People raise more than £70,000 for homeless ‘Trolleyman’ hero

A homeless man has been hailed a 'hero' after footage shows him use a trolley cart to intervene in an attack on the streets of Melbourne – and his heroism prompted people to donate thousands.

A GoFundMepage has raised $129,890 (£72,667) for a man identified by local media as Michael Rogers as thanks for his actions.

Footage shows a man repeatedly driving a trolley at attacker Hassan Shire Ali, who had stabbed three people and was threatening police in the street, CNN reports.

The man has been dubbed ‘trolleyman’ and a fund, called 'Thank you Trollyman', was set up by a charity called Melbourne Homeless Collective to raise money for his phone, which was destroyed in the incident.

The page reads:

On November 9 2018 an incredible man named Michael Rogers from Melbourne, now known as ‘Trolleyman’, put his own life at risk to stop a terrorist who was on a rampage. Mr Rogers bravely shoved a shopping trolley at the terrorist in an attempt to assist police in his capture.

We’ve since learned that our hero ‘Trolleyman’ homeless and that his phone was destroyed in the incident. We believe his efforts deserve a reward that can really help him out.

Rogers told Seven News that he decided to intervene after he saw Ali going after the police officers.

I've seen the trolley to the side and I picked it up and I ran and threw the trolley straight at him and got him but didn't get him down. And I did that motion quite a number of times and it just was not getting him down. The guy was out of control so I just went into action mode and tried to swipe him with the trolley.

People on social media were quick to praise his actions.

But others argued that his interference put police officers in greater danger.

Victorian Police commissioner Graham Ashton told 3AW:

"I don't like to criticise people in that situation, he's acting instinctively about what he's looking at in front of him.

"But if a trolley had hit a police member and knocked him over and then this offender got on top of him, we could have had a tragic consequence.”

I think he was trying to support the police in his own way, so I haven't been jumping on him over the weekend.

The question on everybody's minds is: who is Trolleyman?

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