Police have released images of the 12 men they want to question over the wild melee outside Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley.

The riot, which investigators say swelled to involve 2000 people, followed the stabbing of Assyrian bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and priest Isaac Royel during a live-streamed service on April 15.

A 16-year-old boy has since been charged with a terrorism offence over the attack, which police have said was religiously motivated.

In the immediate aftermath of the stabbing, a crowd swelled outside the church as members of the congregation helped to hold down the attacker inside.

Dozens of police were injured, their cars vandalised and some officers and paramedics were forced to shelter inside the place of worship before the 16-year-old could be taken away safely.

NSW Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Andrew Holland said at least 50 of the estimated 2000 people involved in the melee had “definitely gone there simply to start problems”.

The 12 men identified in the released images were influential in fuelling the violence, he said on Monday.

“They’ve seen the anonymity of being in a riot, they thought they could get away with offences.

“They’re the 12 most serious offenders we’ve identified.”

Three men have already been charged as police comb through 600 hours of video filmed during the riot, much of which was shared on social media.

One man whose image was released bears a distinctive tattoo of Jesus on his stomach and a tattoo sleeve on his left arm.

Some of those who flocked to the church had gone to support its parishioners, but many others had attended “for the wrong reasons”, Mr Holland said.

Faith leaders have called for calm following the church attack, which was followed by threats on Islamic places of worship.

More than 50 officers have been assigned to investigate the riot, during which emergency services personnel were pelted with projectiles such as bricks and fence palings.

Mr Holland said the speed of information-sharing on social media meant that thousands of people had quickly come to the site, while those same networks had also fuelled calls for the other religious sites to be targeted after the church attack.

Those events – and the wide sharing of graphic images and misinformation about a stabbing massacre at Sydney’s Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre – have fuelled calls for tougher legislation to address abuses.

The Elon Musk-owned social media platform X, formerly Twitter, plans to challenge an order from the eSafety commissioner to take down content, arguing Australian laws cannot dictate what overseas users can see.