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The main suspect in the killing of 49 people during a shootout in two mosques in New Zealand Friday appeared in court for a single murder charge.
Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, was brought to the port with a shirt and white handcuffs. Additional charges should be laid against him.
PM Jacinda Ardern said that Mr. Tarrant had a firearms license and owned five firearms, adding, "Our gun laws will change." Two others are in detention. None of the detained persons had criminal records.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison described Tarrant as an "extremist, right-wing and violent terrorist".
The suspect, who remained silent during the brief hearing in Christchurch, was remanded in custody without a plea and is scheduled to appear again in court on 5 April.
The judge of the court ruled that the suspect's face should be photographed and filmed to preserve his right to a fair trial.
Ms. Ardern called the attack "an act of terror" and officials still proceed to the identification of victims.
& # 39; He wanted to continue & # 39;
Ms. Ardern stated that the weapons used by the attacker appeared to have been altered and that the suspect's car was full of weapons, suggesting "his intention to continue his attack".
At a press conference on Saturday, she said the suspect had obtained a firearms license in November 2017 allowing him to buy the weapons used during the attack.
"The simple fact … that this person has acquired a firearms license and weapons of this range, so obviously, I think people are going to ask for a change, and I'm pledging to do that. "
The Attorney General of New Zealand, David Parker, said the government was planning to ban semi-automatic weapons, but that no final decision had been made. Previous attempts to tighten gun laws in a country with a powerful gun lobby and a hunting culture have failed.
"A rejection of hatred"
Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, BBC News, Christchurch
All day Saturday, the people of Christchurch showed their rejection of the hatred that inspired Friday's terrible attacks.
In groups of two or three, as well as in the family groups, hundreds of people went to an improvised memorial site on the edge of Hagley Park. Outside the two attacked mosques, people are laying new flowers. Many have left handwritten notes. "It's not New Zealand," it said.
At one point, a group of young men began to quietly sing a traditional Maori song, head down, eyes closed. The mayor of Christchurch said that the murderer had come to the city with hate in his heart, to commit an act of terrorism. But she said that he represented nothing of the city.
Nevertheless, there are many uncomfortable questions for the authorities here. The man currently in detention, Brenton Tarrant, has not hidden his support for white supremacy. He would have planned the attacks for months. And yet, he was not on any police watch list. He had no trouble getting a gun license, or buying a collection of high-powered weapons.
Suspect's not on the radar & # 39;
The suspect "went around the world with sporadic periods in New Zealand," said Ms. Ardern, without officially identifying him.
She said the New Zealand intelligence services had opened investigations on far-right extremists, but added: "The individual accused of murder did not attract attention intelligence services and the police for extremism ".
Prior to the attacks, social media accounts on behalf of Brenton Tarrant were used to publish a long racist document in which the author identified the mosques that were later attacked.
The text is called The Great Substitution, a phrase of French origin that has become a rallying cry for European anti-immigration extremists. The man said that he had started planning an attack after his visit to Europe in 2017 and his anger at the events that were unfolding there.
The suspect sent the document to 70 people, including Ms. Ardern's generic address, less than 10 minutes before the attack, reports the New Zealand Herald.
Source: BBC
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