Photo: Reuters TV/Ritzau Scanpix
– This is one of the darkest days in New Zealand’s history.
that was the gist of it from the country’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, at a press conference after an offender has fired shots at a crowd that had gathered for Friday prayers in a mosque in the city of Christchurch.
new zealand police have confirmed that there is a toll, and eyewitnesses report many dead.
– I would describe it as a completely disgusting act of violence. The kind of do not belong in New Zealand, said Ardern.
the Attack happened in the al-Noor mosque, located centrally in the city, which is New Zealand’s third largest.
Jacinda Ardern called on the citizens to keep within doors, as “there may be more perpetrators”.
The fact that the attendants in the mosque were muslims and, in several cases immigrants or the descendants, who practiced their faith peacefully, just makes the tragedy greater, said the prime minister.
– They have chosen to make New Zealand their home, and they are a part of us. The person who has done this, is not. The person does not belong in New Zealand, said Jacinda Ardern.
the Mayor of Christchurch, Lianna Dalziel, has said to Radio NZ that the city is in shock over the violent attack on a religious minority.
– This is something I never thought we would experience either here or in New Zealand on the whole, she said.
the Police are massively present in the city, and the city is being held in a so-called ‘lockdown’, says both the prime minister and the mayor of the town.