CHRISTCHURCH —
The bodies of victims from New Zealand's mosques mass shooting were
carried in open caskets on the shoulders of mourners into a large tent
at Christchurch's Memorial Park Cemetery on Wednesday - the first
burials of the 50 victims.
Wrapped in
white cloth, the bodies were laid to face Mecca, and, after jenazah
(funeral) prayers, were carried towards their freshly dug graves.
Seeing
the body lowered down, it was a very emotional time for me,??? said
Gulshad Ali, who had travelled from Auckland to attend the first
funeral.
Several mounds of dirt piled high marked the site of multiple graves which will be used for New Zealand's worst mass shooting.
Hundreds gathered to mourn, some men
wearing a taqiyah (skullcap), others shalwar kameez (long tunic and
trousers), while women wore hijabs and scarfs.
The
majority of victims were migrants or refugees from countries such as
Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Somalia, Afghanistan and
Bangladesh. The youngest was a boy of three, born in New Zealand to
Somali refugee parents.
The first two victims buried, father and son Khaled and Hamza Mustafa, came from war-torn Syria.
"I
cannot tell you how gutting it is...a family came here for safety and
they should have been safe here," said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern,
visiting the city for the second time since the massacre.
Heavily armed police stood watch with flowers tucked in their revolver holsters and attached to their high powered rifles.
Six victims were buried on Wednesday, with more expected during the week.
Ardern
said this coming Friday's call to prayers for Muslims in New Zealand
will be broadcast nationally and there will be a two minute silence on
Friday.
"There is a desire to show support for the Muslim community as they return to mosques on Friday," she said.
The bullet-ridden Al Noor mosque, where more than 40 people died, is being repaired for Friday prayers.
Near
the mosque, members of rival gangs did a Maori haka, a powerful
indigenous ceremonial performance, and a crowd of people sung New
Zealand's national anthem as the sun set.
The
Australian National Imams Council has called on Imams to dedicate this
Friday's Khutbah (sermon) to the Christchurch mosque mass shooting.
"The
attack on any Muslim or any innocent person anywhere around the world
is an attack on all Muslims and all people," the council said in a
statement.
"This is a human and an
international tragedy, not only a Muslim and NZ tragedy. These acts of
terror are there to divide us...and we reject this in all its forms and
ways, but rather we will stay united and strong."
An armed policeman stands guard as the burial ceremony of the victims of the mosque attacks takes place at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Christchurch, New Zealand March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva
INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION
Australian
Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist who was living in
Dunedin, on New Zealand's South Island, has been charged with murder
following the attack.
He was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5, when police said he was likely to face more charges.
New
Zealand's police chief said global intelligence agencies, including the
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and those from Australia, Canada
and Britain, were building up a profile of the alleged shooter.
"I
can assure you this is an absolute international investigation," Police
Commissioner Mike Bush said at a media briefing in the capital
Wellington.
Questions were being
asked about New Zealand's relaxed gun laws, which Ardern has promised to
tighten, and on whether New Zealand authorities were focused enough on
the risk from far-right extremists.
As
of Tuesday night 21 victims had been identified, with the remainder
expected to be completed on Wednesday before their bodies can be
released for burial, police said.
Families of the victims have been frustrated by the delay as under Islam bodies are usually buried within 24 hours.
Bush said police had to prove the cause of death to the satisfaction of the coroner and the judge handling the case.
"You cannot
convict for murder without that cause of death. So this is a very
comprehensive process that must be completed to the highest standard,"
he said.
Twenty nine people wounded in the attacks remained in hospital, eight still in intensive care.
Many
have had to undergo multiple surgeries due to complicated gunshot
wounds. The gunman used semi-automatic AR-15 rifles, with large
magazines, and a shotgun.
TRAGEDY FOR A SCHOOL
Ardern,
who has promised tough new gun laws which could ban semi-automatic
weapons and make buying a gun harder, has said the victims would see
justice.
She has refused to mention alleged gunman Tarrant's name, saying he does not deserve publicity.
Ardern
earlier visited Cashmere High School in Christchurch which lost two
students in the attack - teenagers Sayyad Milne and Hamza Mustafa - plus
Hamza's father Khaled, and a former student Tariq Omar.
She talked to about 200 children gathered at the school auditorium about racism and changes in gun laws.
"Never
mention the perpetrator's name ... never remember him for what he did,"
she said, asking the children to focus on the victims.
(Additional reporting by Charlotte Greenfield and Edgar Sue in
CHRISTCHURCH, Praveen Menon in WELLINGTON; Editing by Michael Perry and
Lincoln Feast)