‘New Zealand cares’: Thousands attend Christchurch attack vigil
Al JazeeraOutpouring of national grief continues amid calls from PM, Muslim leaders for efforts to eliminate racism, Islamophobia. 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. 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. Al Noor mosque imam Gamal Fouda, who survived the March 15 attack, told attendees at Friday’s ceremony in Christchurch that “Islamophobia kills” and the mosque shootings had not “come overnight”.