'We are one' says PM Ardern as New Zealand mourns with prayers, silence

[Jonathan Fairfield]

'We are one' says PM Ardern as New Zealand mourns with prayers, silence

By Tom Westbrook

 

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern leaves after the Friday prayers at Hagley Park outside Al-Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand March 22, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

 

CHRISTCHURCH (Reuters) - The Muslim call to prayer sounded out over Christchurch and around New Zealand on Friday, as thousands gathered to remember the 50 people killed by a lone gunman at two mosques a week ago.

 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern joined about 20,000 people standing quietly at Hagley Park, in front of the Al Noor 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.

 

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, 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 around the country with some forming human chains in front of mosques. Others said silent prayers at schools, cafes and even offices.

 

In Christchurch, relatives of the victims and other mourners thronged into a cemetery where 27 of the victims 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 an Islamic 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 Al Noor mosque.

 

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 he was likely to face more charges.

 

ISLAMOPHOBIA

 

Ardern, who swiftly denounced the shooting as terrorism, announced a ban on military-style semi-automatic and assault rifles on Thursday.

 

She came to Hagley Park surrounded by ministers and security officials, wearing 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, the imam, Fouda, said 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 it had killed people.

 

"Islamophobia is real. It is a targeted campaign to influence people to dehumanise 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.

 

Muslims account for just over 1 percent of New Zealand's population.

 

Many women wore headscarves in New Zealand as a sign of support to the community, and a #headscarfforharmony movement was trending on Twitter.

 

"We are wearing headscarves showing our support, love and solidarity, and hope that by everybody doing this it will demonstrate to Muslim women ... that they are one with us," said Robyn Molony, 65, with a group of friends wearing headscarves at Hagley Park.

 

Residents of Christchurch are still recovering from a devastating earthquake that hit in 2011, killing 185 and injuring thousands.

 

"Since the earthquakes, we’ve gone through a lot as a city and we’re a lot more caring and looking out for one another,” said James Sheehan, 62.

 

(Additional reporting by Charlotte Greenfield, Joseph Campbell; Writing by Praveen Menon; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Michael Perry)

 



-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-03-22

[phantomfiddler]

"We are one" ? She may think so, but I would be surprised if the muslim contingency share the same train of thought.

[ThaiBunny]

Why do politicians utter this stuff? Last week she claimed "This is not who we are".  It may be "This is not who we want to be" or even "This is not how we want people to see us" but there are, in my experience, few defining characteristics of any given nation-state.  The only one that springs immediately to mind is American "exceptionalism" and that's merely a single characteristic. "Stiff upper lip" for the Brits? "Larrikin" for Australians?  Beyond that, human society is widely varied

[arithai12]

I am getting fed up with seeing this woman on every news channels, wearing improbable head-scarfs, constantly uttering platitudes.

It was a horrible tragedy, but doesn't NZ have any other problems that require attention?

[ThaiBunny]

1 minute ago, arithai12 said:

I am getting fed up with seeing this woman on every news channels, wearing improbable head-scarfs, constantly uttering platitudes.

It was a horrible tragedy, but doesn't NZ have any other problems that require attention?

I'm VERY disappointed she wasn't there in a burqa. Talk about cultural insensitivity

[BobBKK]

I find her boring and unconvincing. Many Muslims see the headscarf as repressive. She banned auto rifles in 6 days (good job) now ask her WHY not ban them before 50 people get killed?

 

Stop dressing like a Muslim (you aren't one) if we are 'one' the vast majority of 'us' don't wear repressive headscarfs etc.

[samran]

1 minute ago, sonos99 said:

Adern is white as well. Maybe it's because she's a women and they can't cope with that? 

Definitely. And one who has achieved more than they ever will. 

 

I should have been clearer. She’s paying respect to a people of a faith who they despise and seek to vilify at every turn, and the majority of who’s adherents aren’t the same colour as them. 

[BobBKK]

Just now, samran said:

Definitely. And one who has achieved more than they ever will. 

 

I should have been clearer. She’s paying respect to a people of a faith who they despise and seek to vilify at every turn, and the majority of who’s adherents aren’t the same colour as them. 

You do understand that many Muslim women have gone to jail and worse for refusing to wear the headscarf?  you do understand it's a repressive tool of men?  do not, for ONE minute, think most Muslims think this is some form of 'respect'. This is turning into a circus.

[samran]

4 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

I find her boring and unconvincing. Many Muslims see the headscarf as repressive. She banned auto rifles in 6 days (good job) now ask her WHY not ban them before 50 people get killed?

 

Stop dressing like a Muslim (you aren't one) if we are 'one' the vast majority of 'us' don't wear repressive headscarfs etc.

Cause law reform - including a royal commission recommendation - had been stymied three times in the past 20 years and their electoral system means that there is rarely ever a majority party who can push these things through. 

 

Funny too isn’t it. If it was a male politician no one would make any comment about their dress, but it is a woman then somehow what they wear is an issue of national concern. 

[samran]

2 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

You do understand that many Muslim women have gone to jail and worse for refusing to wear the headscarf?  you do understand it's a repressive tool of men?  do not, for ONE minute, think most Muslims think this is some form of 'respect'. This is turning into a circus.

Are you Muslim spokesperson then, telling us what ‘they’ all think? 

 

Funny we have a lot of those on TV. 

[MalandLee]

She is a politician which means........ NOTHING she does is sincere. Not so different to the vast majority of politicians worldwide.

 

If she is not careful she "may" overplay the political point scoring AND it may backfire on her??.

 

There would be very few human beings that do not see what has happened as a human tragedy.

 

Sad to say in a world of tragedies. e.g.. Sandy hook in the USA (20 Children). Belsan school shooting by Muslim terrorists 334 dead including 184 children and there are countless others, you all know that.

 

How does humanity respond in a global sense? I have no answers - but I do know, I feel something is "false", a "not quite right" response is starting to come from Jacinda Ardern - I genuinely would like to be wrong as these feelings about her "overplaying", I have never had before.

[simple1]

8 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

You do understand that many Muslim women have gone to jail and worse for refusing to wear the headscarf?  you do understand it's a repressive tool of men?  do not, for ONE minute, think most Muslims think this is some form of 'respect'. This is turning into a circus.

In hardline Islamic countries, Yes, not all Muslim majority countries. 

 

I know a number of Thai Muslim women who only use a headscarf for religious celebrations, they view wearing the headscarf on such occasions as an expression of respect, not oppression. The PM of NZ is also expressing respect, unification, lessening tensions and so on. On the other hand we observe persons who want to keep on keeping on with generalised vilification which serves no constructive purpose whatsoever.

[sonos99]

Apparently Adern has been receiving death threats. 

 

So much hate in the world 

[jak2002003]

She is saying Christian prayers for Muslims?

 

Dressing up as a what she thinks a typical Muslim woman wears?  This is not a fancy dress party.  Is she going to get some tattoos dress up in the native Maori traditional dress to pray for all the Maori people her ancestors butchered and destroyed their culture?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

17 minutes ago, jak2002003 said:

She is saying Christian prayers for Muslims?

 

Dressing up as a what she thinks a typical Muslim woman wears?  This is not a fancy dress party.  Is she going to get some tattoos dress up in the native Maori traditional dress to pray for all the Maori people her ancestors butchered and destroyed their culture?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why not offer Christian prayers for Muslims, Christians and Muslims worship the same god. 

[TheGhostWithin]

5 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Why not offer Christian prayers for Muslims, Christians and Muslims worship the same god. 

But in Islam, Jesus is a prophet. In Christianity, Jesus is the child of god. As such, all of the disciples of Jesus are not disciples of god in the eyes of the Qoran.

[ShortTimed]

Cause law reform - including a royal commission recommendation - had been stymied three times in the past 20 years and their electoral system means that there is rarely ever a majority party who can push these things through. 
 
Funny too isn’t it. If it was a male politician no one would make any comment about their dress, but it is a woman then somehow what they wear is an issue of national concern. 

If a Western male leader wore a Thobe, a Ghutra, a Bisht, or a long tunic do you think that would not get equal attention from the news and skepticism from many of his Constituents?

Please don’t turn this into some attempt of sexist victimization.

[Goneback]

What a great civilized country New Zealand turned out to be, because only in hard times exposes the integrity of societies and its leadership.  I doubt the outcome would be the same if it was in another western country.

 

 

[ShortTimed]

I don’t understand.

What is wrong with a National Anthem lyric, “God Defend New Zealand”.




Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[TheGhostWithin]

9 minutes ago, samran said:

Sources? Or is this just 8chan and breibart ‘news’.

 

And if true, so what? What has that got to do with anything. Seems like you are trying to justify the shooting by making out it is guilt by association. Like all Catholics must be pedophles then? 

 

Im guessing it doesn’t bother you they shut down the country for two major religious festivities - Easter and Christmas. Televise national memorials from churches and your national anthem is God Defend New Zealand. 

 

But you get ONE call to prayer for two lousy minutes and you are losing it. 

https://web.archive.org/web/20190318100919/www.stuff.co.nz/world/middle-east/10310496/A-Kiwi-lads-death-by-drone

 

Stuff is the most read, if not the second most read mainstream news outlet in NZ. You will note the initial article has conveniently now been removed from their own online archives.

 

Having easter with everything closed drives me insane. To allay any fears you may have, I have read the Qoran cover to cover, I have never once read the bible, apart from what I used to be forced to listen to as part of our nationwide national religious instruction program when I was in primary school.

 

[samran]

15 minutes ago, ShortTimed said:

 

If a Western male leader wore a Thobe, a Ghutra, a Bisht, or a long tunic do you think that would not get equal attention from the news and skepticism from many of his Constituents?

Please don’t turn this into some attempt of sexist victimization.

 

 But yet we have how many pages now in this thread and others with the keyboard warriors going on about her sticking a simple scarf over her head?

 

Show is me an equal length discussion on the clothing choices of any male world leader when going to a religious function and your point may have some credence. 

[ShortTimed]

Somehow I don’t think we should expect the reverse tribute from the Muslim faith and see them remove their Muslim garb to show solidarity with the West.

 

And thats OK with me because something about all this playing “dress up” seems insincere to me.

 

Nice photo op for a politician though.

[Chomper Higgot]

2 minutes ago, MalandLee said:

No it  is not. There happens to be some educated decent people on here with a different point of view to yours. You are not always right you know, spewing hate speech...

You’ll need to point them out, they’re being obscured by their hate.

[MalandLee]

1 minute ago, ShortTimed said:

Somehow I don’t think we should expect the reverse tribute from the Muslim faith and see them remove their Muslim garb to show solidarity with the West.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

You are probably quite right, however, I personally believe we need to respond to tragedies like this, without pandering to the aggrieved person(s) culture or religion. Today in Mosul Iraq, over 100 people lost their life, mostly women and children... That too is a terrible tragedy.

[Samuel Smith]

One thing I've noticed, is that not one of my Facebook friends changed their profile pic after the Christchurch attack.  Compare that to Paris 2015.  And I don't have any white supremacist FB friends.  Quite the opposite.

[ShortTimed]

You’ll need to point them out, they’re being obscured by their hate.

OK, whats the deal with this Liberal insistence of describing anyone who does not share their view as being filled with “hate”?

[ShortTimed]

You are probably quite right, however, I personally believe we need to respond to tragedies like this, without pandering to the aggrieved person(s) culture or religion. Today in Mosul Iraq, over 100 people lost their life, mostly women and children... That too is a terrible tragedy.

Yes, I agree. I had edited my post to say just that at the same time you were typing your response.

I don’t expect Muslim leaders to change their dress for me. I think it is a more authentic response.

[MalandLee]

3 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

You’ll need to point them out, they’re being obscured by their hate.

Chomper Higgot is one - Quote:- "Yet another topic on TVF swarmed by Islamophobes".

 

BTW the construct "islamophobes" is flawed. Just like when the use of "racist" is applied to Muslims - that too is flawed.

 

Some people dislike Islam due to its history (Recent and past) generally, those very same people could have friends who are Muslim. There is no dichotomy here.

[metisdead]

Offensive and inflammatory posts and the replies have been removed.  

 

Some troll posts have been removed as well. 

[mokwit]

They are all so similar one wonders if they have had a chip installed.