Christchurch mosque victims’ names read out to silent crowd at New Zealand memorial

Dozens of representatives of governments from around the world joined New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the remembrance service in Hagley Park

Wearing a Maori cloak known as a kakahu during the service, said the world had to end the vicious cycle of extremism and that it needed a global effort

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New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Arden gestures to relatives of victims of the mosque attacks during the national remembrance service, at Hagley Park in Christchurch. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:57am, 29 Mar 2019Updated: 10:42pm, 29 Mar 2019

Thousands stood in silence in a Christchurch park on Friday as the names of 50 people shot dead in two mosques were read out at a national memorial service, with speakers calling for the legacy of the tragedy to be a kinder, more tolerant New Zealand.

Dozens of representatives of governments from around the world joined New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the remembrance service in Hagley Park, near the Al Noor mosque where more than 40 of the victims were killed by a suspected white supremacist during Friday prayers on March 15.

“Our challenge now is to make the very best of us a daily reality. Because we are not immune to the viruses of hate, of fear, of other. We never have been,” said Ardern, whose handling of the tragedy has won global praise.

“But we can be the nation that discovers the cure. And so to each of us as we go from here, we have work to do,” she said.

An estimated 20 thousand people attend the National Remembrance Service to those who were tragically killed in the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre shooting at Hagley Park. Photo: EPA

Ardern, who wore a Maori cloak known as a kakahu during the service, said the world had to end the vicious cycle of extremism and that it needed a global effort.