CHRISTCHURCH: Frustrated families of the victims of mosque attack in Christchurch were waiting on Monday for the bodies to be handed back to them for burial, as the rest of the city attempted to inch back to normality.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Sunday the first bodies would be returned that evening and expected all of the 50 victims of Friday’s shootings to be returned by Wednesday. On Monday, however, some Muslim community members said they did not know exactly when the first funerals would take place.
According to Muslim tradition, bodies must be washed in accordance with certain rituals and burials must take place within 24 hours. On Monday, earthmovers were digging graves in the Muslim section of Memorial Park Cemetery, around one kilometre from the Linwood mosque where seven worshippers were killed.
At the police cordon around the Deans Avenue mosque, where 28-year old Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant stormed in and shot dead 42 worshippers, people continued to arrive with flowers and tributes.
A Turkish delegation that included Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Vice-President Fuat Oktay also visited the scene, crossing the cordon to lay flowers near the mosque’s entrance. Cavusoglu told local television at the site that he had spoken to New Zealand lawmakers after he arrived in the country late on Sunday.
“We saw that they were also shocked, because New Zealand is one of the most tolerant and peaceful countries in the world,” he said.
Across the city, others returned to their routines, heading to school and work for the first time since the attacks.
Later on Monday, Ardern said she would announce new gun laws within days.
“Within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism we will have announced reforms which will, I believe, make our community safer,” Ardern told a news conference after her cabinet reached in principle decisions on gun reform laws.
David Tipple, the managing director of New Zealand firearms store Gun City, said Tarrant bought weapons according to a “police-verified online mail order process.” Tipple said Tarrant bought four weapons and ammunition from Gun City, but said a military-style semi-automatic weapon used in the attack was purchased elsewhere.
“We detected nothing extraordinary about this [gun] licence holder,”Tipple added.
Earlier on Monday, Australia’s counter-terrorism police raided two homes on the New South Wales north coast near the town of Grafton, where Tarrant grew up.
Police said his family were assisting authorities.
Meanwhile, local media reported that Tarrant was planning to represent himself at future court appearances, in a move that has raised concerns that he will use his trial to broadcast his white supremacist beliefs.
Tarrant has been charged with murder for allegedly gunning down the 50 victims and injuring the same number of people in Friday’s live-streamed attacks. — dpa
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