"The Nation Behind Us": New Zealand Shares the Pain of Christchurch Muslims | News from the world

It began to rain as Hati Mohemmed Daoud Nabi was buried in the freshly dug earth at Memorial Park Cemetery in Christchurch.

Aged 71, he was the fifth to be buried on Thursday. Six days earlier, he had been the first to die when he had opened Masjid Al Noor's door on Deans Avenue in Christchurch and greeted a stranger by saying, "Hello, my brother."

This stranger is currently in detention, pending 50 counts of murder for the attack on Masjid Al Noor and a second mosque on Linwood Avenue. This is the worst terrorist attack in the history of the country. The youngest victim was only three years old. As of Thursday, 28 of the 42 wounded remained in the hospital.

The attack was motivated by hatred of Muslims, but it resulted in an outpouring of love and support in a heart-broken country. Thousands of non-Muslims have since attended a mosque for the first time; the schoolboys made a haka for the dead; non-Muslim women (including Premier Jacinda Ardern) donned a headscarf; and across the country, New Zealanders have committed to forming a human chain around mosques to protect those who pray.

It also promoted action. An hour after Daoud's burial, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern banned the sale of military-style badault rifles, semi-automatic rifles and shotguns with detachable magazines, as well as Large capacity magazines – the main weapons used by the police during the attack.

Thursday night, more than 18,000 people attended a candlelight vigil in Dunedin, the second largest city on New Zealand's South Island after Christchurch.

This 28-year-old Australian suspected of committing these attacks lived in Dunedin, 360 km to the south. He was appointed to the hearing, but Ardern promised never to pronounce his name.

On Friday, a week after the mbadacre, the Muslim call to prayer was broadcast on national television and radio in New Zealand, followed by a two-minute silence. Outside Masjid Al Noor, a large crowd gathered to observe the midday prayers. Later, 26 of the remaining victims were buried in a mbad burial.

Luul Ibrahim, whose 3-year-old brother Mucad was among those buried, said that she lived in Australia and that she had not had the chance to meet her brother, adding "maybe one day I will meet him in paradise".

Imam Gamal Fouda, who stood on a podium about 200 meters from the mosque, said that New Zealand had proven "flawless" and called for action to eliminate the danger. Islamophobia and hate speech.

"Last Friday, I found myself in this mosque and I saw the hatred and rage in the eyes of the terrorist," he said. "Today, from the same place, I look and see the love and compbadion in the eyes of thousands of New Zealanders and human beings around the world."

Ardern kept his speech brief, reciting an Islamic proverb and saying, "New Zealand is crying with you, we are one."

At the end of the service, a simple message was presented to the crowd in Te Reo Maori: "Aroha, aroha, aroha." Love, love, love.

At the kitchen table in Christchurch, New Zealanders calmly discuss the point of knowing they could have made fun of racism and hate speech when they should have taken the threat of nationalism seriously White. In Australia, these same conversations got stuck in a partisan political debate.

Everyone in Christchurch was ready for the next big earthquake, but few – including the authorities – were prepared for this man-made disaster.

"Why does not this angry man just ask why they pray?"

Until March 15, the idea of ​​a right-wing terrorist attack in New Zealand was considered so improbable by all, except for those directly exposed to anti-Muslim sentiment, that even security agencies missed the alarm signals.

"I hope to be able to think that a nasty bastard will not affect our country and our way of thinking about ourselves," said Rachel McCormick, a woman from Christchurch. She is at the public memorial outside the Botanic Gardens on Rolleston Avenue with two of her children, delivering flowers and a message written by her five-year-old son.

The message reads, "Why does not the angry man just ask why they pray?"

McCormick said the attack had sparked "many discussions about Kiwi racism," on Ardern's pride of compbadionate performance as a leader and on gun control, although this last is only an instant statement of "total support".

The Deputy Mayor of Christchurch City Council, Andrew Turner, said his home was still "a city in shock", but that there remained "some issues to be resolved" on racism and intolerance in New Zealand.

"I would like to think that any inheritance from that, as far as possible, can be positive," Turner says. "That it leads to a better understanding of different religions, different communities, a greater level of cultural awareness, and the absolute need to embrace the diversity of our wider community, as well as the need to be a voice and a welcoming place for immigrants and refugees. "

According to Ciaran Fox of the Mental Health Foundation, this also shows the need to ensure that migrant communities and recent refugees are integrated into the community networks that were created following the earthquake. Fox attributes the resilience of the city to these networks, which means that in the event of a disaster, its 374,000 residents "know how to be a community" in Christchurch.

This is seen in the flowers. The memorial to Rolleston Avenue has been growing since the afternoon of the attack to cover more than 100 meters of fence. It is filled with messages of hope and condolence, including the omnipresent affirmation of Te Reo's "Kia Kaha", or stay strong. "Kia Kaha" is written on a literal package of olive twigs; chalk on the sidewalk; on paper chains made by elementary students; replicas of the New Zealand flag.

Every few meters, a photo of one of the victims sits between the mounds of floral tributes and teddy bear. At one point, there is a collection of futsal balls and balls, a tribute to Atta Elayyan, 33, goalkeeper of the national men's futsal team, as well as to Tariq Omar, 24, and Sayyad Milne, 14, who was playing for Maitland. soccer club.

A letter left to Omar reads as follows: "When you coach me, I feel welcome in the team. I did not speak until last Tuesday and it turned out that it was the last time. "

Mohammad Ishaq and his daughter Shaheen, 15, came from Auckland to Christchurch on Saturday after learning that a cousin had been killed during the attack. They buried him on Wednesday.

"He was here for a week and last Saturday, he was supposed to come to Auckland for a visit, but that was not the case," said Ishaq.

He thanked the wider community for its support, stating, "The whole nation is behind us, the whole country is behind us, it's the thing about Kiwis."

Shaheen says that the level of support from the community as a result of the attack gives him hope.

"People see Muslims in a different way now and that's something we really appreciate. We now know that we can really be part of this community, "she says.