New Zealand began to bury its dead on Saturday, a day after at least one gunman attacked worshipers in two mosques, killing 49 and injuring 42 others in what Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called a terrorist attack.
Dozens of people laid flowers at cordons near both locations in the South Island city, which is still rebuilding after a devastating earthquake in 2011 that killed almost 200 people.
Funerals were planned on Saturday for some of the victims, several who were born overseas.
It was the worst ever peacetime mass killing in New Zealand and the country raised its security threat level to the highest, Ardern said, adding: “This can now only be described as a terrorist attack.”
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63249576/1130954286.jpg.0.jpg)
“We were not chosen for this act of violence because we condone racism, because we are enclave for extremism,” Ardern said in a national address. “We were chosen for the fact that we are none of these things.
It was because we represent diversity, kindness, compassion, a home for those who share our values.
“You have chosen us but we utterly reject and condemn you.”
Armed police have been deployed at several locations in all cities, unusual in a country where levels of gun violence are low.