Watch the emotional tribute below
Video Credit: Reuters
28-year-old Brenton Harrison Tarrant attacked two mosques in Christchurch, leaving 50 innocent people dead.
Members of the Black Power, one of New Zealand’s largest Māori gangs, performed an emotional haka to pay tribute to the Christchurch massacre victims.
Around ten members of the Black Power gathered near to the police cordon at Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch during a flower vigil.
A gang spokesman said:
‘Even though people call us a gang and what not, we live in this community together and it has just brought everyone together, it doesn’t matter what you wear or what colour your skin is, or what you stand for, your religion, it’s just brought everyone together like the earthquakes,’ he told The Daily Telegraph.
‘That [white power extremism] has been here for years, it’s been here for decades, every respect for a person who shows who they are but others hide behind something. Those are the people you have to be aware of and careful about because they do not express how they feel, they just blow up and something like this is the result,’ he added.
Another member of the gang, Shane Turner, said:
‘It is sad today and going to be sad tomorrow and this is about the only time we can all be together collectively,’
Dozens of graves were prepared by families to bury their loved ones.
Prime Minister Jacinda Arden met families of the victims and said:
‘Hagley Park, very much the focus on them was being able to access their loved ones. Front of mind for them, of course, is fulfilling their religious expectations and that is burial.’
She also spoke to Muslim leaders at the refugee centre. She said:
‘At the meeting at the refugee centre, their community leaders shared the same sentiment that has come through from New Zealanders generally that,’
‘This is not the New Zealand they know.’
‘This is not the New Zealand that has welcomed them and that it is not a reflection of the New Zealand they know, and that sentiment came through very strongly.’
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