New Zealand Shootings Fueled by Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Muslim, Pro-Trump Philosophy
From Market Watch, CBS, CNN
New Zealand police continue to respond to events following shootings at two mosques in central Christchurch. The national security threat level has been lifted to high. Mosques across New Zealand have been closed and police are asking people to refrain from visiting.
So far, 49 people have been killed. Four people, three men and a woman, have been taken into custody in connection with the shootings. One man in his late 20s has been charged with murder.
In the hours after the attacks, New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, made it clear this was a terrorist attack of “extraordinary and unprecedented violence” that had no place in New Zealand. She said extremist views were not welcome and contrary to New Zealand values, and did not reflect New Zealand as a nation.
She is right. Public opinion surveys such as the Asia New Zealand Foundation annual surveys of attitudes tend to show that a majority of New Zealanders are in favor of diversity and see immigration, in this case from Asia, as providing various benefits for the country.
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