MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australians will light candles at 6:47 p.m. on Sunday (7:47 GMT) to collectively commemorate the moment the first shots rang out a week earlier at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in an attack on a Jewish festival that left 15 dead.
Australians will light candles at 6:47 p.m. on Sunday (7:47 GMT) to collectively commemorate the moment the first shots rang out a week earlier at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in an attack on a Jewish festival that left 15 dead.
The federal and New South Wales state governments have declared Sunday a national Day of Reflection, a week after Australia’s worst mass shooting since 35 died in Tasmania state in 1996.
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Indigenous leaders held a traditional smoking ceremony on Sunday morning at the waterfront Bondi Pavilion, where an impromptu memorial has grown over the past week as flowers and heartfelt messages have accumulated. The memorial is to be cleared on Monday.
Rabbi Levi Wolff expected thousands would gather at Bondi later Sunday to honor the victims and show solidarity for the Jewish community.
“Australians appreciate that this is an attack that wasn’t just against the Jewish people — we’re an easy target — but this is an attack on the Australian values and they will come here and they will stand together with us shoulder-to-shoulder as they have over the last week to tell the people in this country that there is no tolerance for hate.
