New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that the entire globe still needs to deeply discuss racism and white supremacy, two years after the attacks on Christchurch mosques in 2019.
While speaking to the media at the memorial of the Christchurch Massacre, Jacinda Ardern said, “there is still work to be done”.
“Two years ago today 51 New Zealanders lives were taken in the March 15 mosque attack. Our thoughts continue to be with the victims, injured survivors, families and all those affected by the events of that day. I know we’re all committed to ensuring such an attack never happens on our soil again, and for our part, that’s why we have put in place an extensive program of work to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the attack,” she said.
“Members of our Muslim community were experiencing some pretty horrific racism before that attack here in their own communities” the Prime Minister added.
Arden added, “The world needs to have these conversations.”
On March 15, 2019, 51 people were killed and dozens were injured in indiscriminate firing by two heavily armed men at two Christchurch mosques.
According to foreign news agencies, hundreds of people attended the memorial service, held under tight security.
A survivor, who was shot nine times in the face, hands and feet, vividly remembers the moment when he was waiting for medical help with three-year-old Mokad Ibrahim’s father and found out that the baby was dead.
The Prime Minister of New Zealand, who sympathized with the survivors of the attack and the families of the victims of the shooting, was widely praised and took immediate steps to tighten firearms control in the country. “No words can heal these wounds,” she said.
