New Zealand shootings: 49 dead in mosque attacks

[Sarah]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-47578798

Forty-nine people have been killed and at least 20 wounded in shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described the incident as a terrorist attack and one of New Zealand's "darkest days".

A man in his late twenties was charged with murder and will appear in court on Saturday morning, police confirmed.

Two other men and one woman were detained nearby and firearms seized, Police Commissioner Mike Bush said.

He said one of those detained was later released, while officers were working to understand if the other two were connected.

Police also found multiple explosive devices in a car belonging to one of the suspects. The attack was the deadliest in the country's history.

One gunman live-streamed footage of his rampage to Facebook, filmed with a head-mounted camera. The footage showed him firing indiscriminately at men, women and children from close range inside the Al-Noor mosque.

Police called on the public not to share the "extremely distressing" footage online. Facebook said it had removed the gunman's Facebook and Instagram accounts and was working to remove any copies of the footage.

 

[Angela Channing]

It hard to express how upset this attack has made me and how angry it has made me that as a society worldwide we tolerate Islamophobia. Whether it's President Trump advocating banning Muslims from the USA, or Nigel Farage whipping up hatred against Turkish Muslims to persuade British people to vote for Brexit or my local Tory MP posting an anti-Muslim article on Twitter, Islamophobia is not only part of mainstream thinking it is openly supported by people of influence as a legitimate political opinion.

A small group of evil right-wing people may have carried out this appalling attack but we all have blood on our hands for allowing anti-Muslim hatred to flourish in society.

 

[Justine]

Less than 24 hours after, the government started talking about new gun laws. TAKE NOTE, America.

 

[Angela Channing]

How can someone gain so much hatred towards Muslims that they would want to murder 50 of them? For at least the past 10 years we have been fed a constant stream of Islamophobia from the media in a subtle form of radicalisation not unlike that used by ISIS. This is just a few newspaper headlines from recent years, most of them lies to provoke anti-Muslim hatred.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The far right stuff going on globally is very worrying.

I've liked pretty much everything I've seen about Jacinda Ardern in the last couple of years, and her response to this tragedy has only given me more admiration. She has been at the heart of Muslim communities giving not just sympathy but also hope. The immediate change to gun laws should serve as a template for any area affected by gun crime due to legalised instruments of death. And her refusal to give any power to the killer by making him notorious is spot on.

 

[Sarah]

@Mel O'Drama - she's amazing isn't she? She was very respectful of Grace Millane's family as well, when the young woman was murdered in New Zealand. I listened to her speech around the mosque killings this morning and was overwhelmed.

 

[Angela Channing]

I don't know much about her domestic policies but on this issue she has been fantastic. She has shown genuine warmth, compassion and empathy with the families of the victims and she has taken decisive action to reduce to chance of this atrocity happening again. Her response to the tragedy has been spot on.