New Zealand Memorial Service for Shooting Victims Draws Thousands

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/world/asia/new-zealand-shooting-memorial-service.html

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CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Lamenting that “the world has been stuck in a vicious cycle of extremism breeding extremism,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand said at a national memorial service for the Christchurch attack victims on Friday that the dangerous cycle “must end.”

Ms. Ardern’s call for a collective global response to violence and terrorism — based in “our humanity” — came two weeks after a gunman killed 50 worshipers in attacks on two mosques in the city.

Her speech reflected questions that New Zealanders have been wrestling with as the shock of the attack has begun to fade: namely, how deeply extremist sentiments have taken root in the country, and how to prevent such violence from happening again.

“The ugliest of viruses can exist in places they are not welcome,” Ms. Ardern said, adding that racism, violence, extremism and assaults on freedom of worship were “not welcome here.”

An estimated 20,000 people attended the event in Hagley Park, not far from one of the mosques that were targeted on March 15. Security was tight; buses were used to block off all nearby roads, with cordons guarded by armed police units and officers circulating through the crowd. While the service was broadcast at simultaneous events around New Zealand, some gatherings were canceled amid security fears and overstretched police resources.

Amid the hard questions at the service, there was also celebration of survival — and faith. Fariz Ahmed, a wheelchair-bound man whose wife, Husna Ahmed, ran back into Al Noor mosque in hope of saving him and was killed, spoke on behalf of those in the mosques who lived through the attack.

“I cannot deny the fact that he is my human brother,” Mr. Ahmed said of the man who killed his wife. “I do not hate him. I cannot hate him. I cannot hate anyone.”

Along with dignitaries from 59 countries — including Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison — the survivors and families of the victims sat in a fenced-off area at the front of the event. Some could not attend, including 22 victims of the attacks who remain hospitalized as they recover from injuries.

For some, the memorial service came as their extended families — who had traveled to Christchurch from around the world — began to depart, leaving them to confront new realities.

The evening before the service, Ambreen Naeem sat in the living room of her sister’s home in suburban Christchurch as cooking smells lingered and her 5-year-old son played nearby. Friends dropped by with about 20 meals for the family’s freezer.

One important task for Ms. Naeem, 44, will be learning to drive. Both her husband, Naeem Rashid, 51, and her eldest son, Talha Naeem, 21, were killed at Al Noor mosque. Mr. Rashid, a university lecturer, has become known for having tried to wrestle the gunman’s weapon from him.

“He had a true faith and a love for people throughout his life,” Ms. Naeem said.

After Friday’s service, some in the crowd wandered across the park to Al Noor mosque, where mounds of flowers, paper garlands and mementos encircled trees and sat piled against the mosque’s front fence.

As usual, worshipers were arriving for Friday Prayer; it was the first held at the mosque since the terror attack, and everything was different. Armed police officers guarded a closed gate, and members of the public stood outside reading notes and tributes.

Habib Ullah, one of the worshipers, said the main room of the mosque was still being refurbished — carpet had not yet been laid — but people still turned out for prayer. There was a sense of family, but a sense, too, that the survivors of the attacks had much more left to face.

“They will need everything,” said Mr. Ullah, a member of Christchurch’s Pakistani community who has been helping organize assistance for the victims’ families. “They will need thousands and thousands of things.”

Nine Pakistani nationals were killed in the attack, and Mr. Ullah said most were men between the ages of 30 and 40 who had children.

Among the chief concerns of their widows, he said, were paying rent, finding means of income, and clarifying their status as immigrants — all of which the government has promised assistance for.

However, some did not know enough English to fill out government forms and did not have access to their husbands’ bank accounts. The Muslim Association of Canterbury was forming a group at the Al Noor mosque to connect families with services.

Mustafa Farouk, the president of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand, said Muslim communities consumed by both grief and gratitude for New Zealanders’ response to the attacks must now have a difficult conversation with the rest of the country.

“We will get down to our really serious business of how we can make sure this doesn’t happen in our country again,” he said. “There’s an underbelly of some kind of racism that exists, but we want to collectively stamp it out.”

Ms. Ardern on Monday announced a major investigation into the terrorist attack, with government agencies — including those responsible for security — among those under scrutiny. Questions will include whether New Zealand’s spy agencies had Muslim communities under closer examination than white nationalist groups.

She has also taken steps to overhaul New Zealand’s gun laws and demanded actions from the social media platforms where the alleged gunman, Brenton Tarrant, was able to stream footage of the attack.

But she has urged New Zealanders, too, to confront racism where they see it.

“We each hold the power, in our words and in our actions, in our daily acts of kindness,” she told the crowd at Hagley Park, adding that that the legacy of the attack should be “to be the nation we believe ourselves to be.”