The Muslim call to prayer yesterday sounded out over Christchurch and across New Zealand, as thousands gathered to remember the 50 people killed by a lone gunman at two mosques a week ago.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern joined about 20,000 people standing quietly at Hagley Park in front of the Masjid al-Noor, the mosque where most of the victims were killed during Friday prayers last week.
“New Zealand mourns with you. We are one,” she said in a short speech, followed by two minutes of silence.
Photo: Reuters
Ardern, who swiftly denounced the shooting as terrorism, has announced a ban on military-style semi-automatic and assault rifles.
The country has been under heightened security since the attack, and police yesterday said that they were investigating a threat made against Ardern on Twitter.
The New Zealand Herald reported that a Twitter post containing a photograph of a gun and captioned “You are next” was sent to the prime minister.
The account has been suspended, the newspaper said.
Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, has been charged with one murder following the Christchurch attack and was remanded without a plea.
He is due back in court on April 5, when police said that he was likely to face more charges.
Most victims of New Zealand’s worst mass shooting were migrants or refugees from countries such as Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Somalia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
“We are broken-hearted, but we are not broken. We are alive, we are together, we are determined to not let anyone divide us,” Imam Gamal Fouda told the crowd at the Masjid al-Noor, many wearing headscarves in support of the grieving Muslim community.
“To the families of the victims, your loved ones did not die in vain. Their blood has watered the seeds of hope,” he said in prayers broadcast nationally.
Tens of thousands of people paid their respects nationwide, with some forming human chains in front of mosques.
Others said silent prayers at schools, cafes and even offices.
Relatives and other mourners thronged into a Christchurch cemetery where 26 victims of the attack, and one person who died in a car crash that was unrelated to the mosque shooting, were laid to rest in a mass burial.
“This is a special janazah. We don’t do these every day,” one mourner said over a microphone, referring to a Muslim funeral prayer. “We don’t bury 27 of our brothers and sisters every day.”
The first to be laid to rest was Naeem Rashid, who was hailed as a hero, killed trying to tackle the gunman at the mosque.
Ardern, surrounded by ministers and security officials, wore a black headscarf and a black suit. Female police at the park also wore headscarves, with a red rose on their uniforms.
In a powerful speech that lasted about 20 minutes, Fouda said that through its love and compassion, New Zealand was unbreakable.
“We are here in our hundreds and thousands unified for one purpose — that hate will be undone and love will redeem us,” he said.
He thanked Ardern for her compassion, saying: “It has been a lesson for world leaders.”
Fouda also denounced Islamophobia, saying that it had killed people.
“Islamophobia is real. It is a targeted campaign to influence people to dehumanize and irrationally fear Muslims. To fear what we wear, to fear the choice of food we eat, to fear the way we pray and to fear the way we practice our faith,” he said.
Many women wore headscarves in New Zealand as a sign of support to the community and a #headscarfforharmony movement was trending on Twitter.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to