As New Zealand continues to reel in the aftermath of a mass shooting at two mosques in the city of Christchurch, two New Zealand union leaders joined Radio Sputnik’s Loud & Clear Monday to discuss the atmosphere in the country following the attack.
«New Zealand people are still grappling at the reality that this massacre happened in this country. If you’ve [ever] been here to New Zealand, you can actually see [that] policemen are not carrying guns. That’s how peaceful the country is. Everybody was shocked on Friday, and people actually couldn’t believe it until Saturday, when it finally [sunk] in,» Dennis Maga, the president of First Union, a major national trade union in the country, told hosts John Kiriakou and Brian Becker.
«People were emotional; people couldn’t express their thoughts… they were in denial until Sunday, and [then] they said, ‘Hey, it happened. We must face that there are right-wing extremists in the country and neighboring countries such as Australia. And these things [have to be] taken seriously, and actions must be taken by the government,» he added.
A violent shooting in two mosques rocked Christchurch on Friday, leaving 50 dead and dozens injured. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called the shooting a terrorist act, saying it was the country’s «darkest day.»
An Australian right-wing extremist, Brenton Tarrant, has confessed to the attack and was charged with murder soon after the massacre. On Saturday, a New Zealand court ordered that he remain in custody until April 5.
«It’s safe to say that New Zealand is a quite diverse country. There is some social acceptance that this is how we embrace one another. And given that New Zealand only has a 4.5-million population, it’s not surprising that almost everyone knows one another. People can express their religion and culture, and we have strong recognition of the indigenous people of the land, which are the Māori,» Maga noted.
«And therefore we practice that and extend that [recognition] to other nationalities, and I think we became a target because of that.
