To reflect a week post the shooting that killed 50 mosque-goers in Christchurch New Zealand, citizens observed the Muslim call to prayer on Friday. The Imam, Gamal Fouda told the crowd of thousands that had left the country broken-hearted but not broken.
In a day without precedent, people across New Zealand listened to the call to prayer on live broadcasts while thousands, including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, gathered in leafy Hagley Park opposite the Al Noor mosque. "New Zealand mourns with you. We are one," Ardern said.
The observance comes just a day after Ardern banned announced a ban on "military-style" semi-automatic firearms and high-capacity magazines like the weapons. New Zealand is another country besides that US that have powerful gun lobbies. “I strongly believe that the vast majority of legitimate gun owners in New Zealand will understand that these moves are in the national interest, and will take these changes in their stride," she said.
The call to prayer was observed at 1:30 pm local time and followed by two minutes of silence. Hundreds of Muslim men at the park sat in socks or bare feet. One man in the front row was in a Christchurch Hospital wheelchair. The Al Noor mosque's imam, Gamal Fouda, thanked New Zealanders for their support.
"This terrorist sought to tear our nation apart with an evil ideology. ... But, instead, we have shown that New Zealand is unbreakable," the imam said.
Later in the day, a mass funeral was held to bury 26 of the victims at a cemetery where more than a dozen already have been laid to rest.
Family members took turns passing around shovels and wheelbarrows to bury their loved ones. Friday's burials included the youngest victim, 3-year-old Mucaad Ibrahim.
An immediate sales ban went into effect Thursday to prevent stockpiling, and new laws would be rushed through Parliament that would impose a complete ban on the weapons, Ardern said.
New Zealand does not have a constitutional right to bear arms.
The Al Noor mosque's imam said workers have been toiling feverishly to repair the destruction, some of whom offered their services for free. Fouda expects the mosque to reopen by next week.
New Zealand police in the meanwhile said that they had met with the mosque shooter before a gun licence was granted to him. The shooter, a self-avowed white supremacist, applied for the gun licence in September 2017 and a police "firearms vetting team" visited his home in the southern city of Dunedin the following month. Tarrant, legally purchased a number of weapons in December 2017, including the two semi-automatic rifles, two shotguns and a lever-action firearm he used in the March 15 attacks on two Christchurch mosques.
