‘New Zealand cares’: Thousands attend Christchurch attack vigil

Thousands of New Zealanders have attended a mass vigil in Christchurch to mourn the 50 Muslims killed in an attack on two mosques.

Nearly 40,000 people filled Christchurch’s Hagley Park on Saturday evening, according to local officials, almost 10 days after a suspected white supremacist attacked the Al Noor and Linwood mosques.

The March 15 massacre marked the worst mass shooting in New Zealand’s recent history and was branded a “terrorist attack” by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Saturday’s ceremony was the latest in a series of remembrance events and included speeches, singing and moments of silence. Members of the Muslim and indigenous Maori communities were among the participants.

Linwood mosque’s imam, Alabi Lateef Zirullah, began the event with an Islamic prayer.

The names of the 50 worshippers killed were then read out, beginning with the youngest – three-year-old Mucaad Ibrahim.

“These people came here as refugees and migrants,” a Maori speaker said.

“May your spirits go to the top of Aoraki … and look down on us and give us peace and love,” he said, using the traditional Maori name for Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest peak.

More than 40 victims have been buried in Christchurch’s New Park Cemetery.

Survivor praises New Zealand’s ‘unity’
Mustafa Boztas, a 21-year-old survivor of the shooting at Al Noor, said remembrance events show that “New Zealand cares” about its Muslim minority, which accounts for over one percent of the country’s nearly five million people.

Earlier on Saturday, more than 1,000 people marched in a rally against racism in Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city, carrying “migrant lives matter” and “refugees welcome here” placards.

On Friday, Ardern and 20,000 others attended a Muslim prayer ceremony in Hagley Park, near Al Noor mosque.

Ardern, who has been praised for showing empathy and understanding to the Muslim community, wore a headscarf during the event and quoted the Prophet Muhammad.

Before Friday’s ceremony, a nationwide two-minute silence was held. The call to prayer was broadcast on national television and radio stations.

“This shooting has united us together, as one,” Boztas, who is wheelchair-bound after being shot in his leg, told Al Jazeera from the front row of Saturday’s vigil. “It takes time to recover … [but] I’m glad to be here.”

About 50 people were injured in the attack, 24 of whom are still being treated in a Christchurch hospital. Four people remain in critical condition.

A four-year-old girl is being treated in Auckland. Her condition has been described as “critical but stable” by local media.

source bbc