William in NZ for Anzac Day ceremony
Britain’s Prince William paid tribute to Australian and New Zealand troops yesterday at an emotional Anzac Day ceremony, six weeks after the Christchurch mosques massacre.
The prince, in New Zealand to meet survivors of the March 15 shooting in which 50 people were killed, laid a wreath at the annual service honouring those who have served in the two countries’ armed forces.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told an Anzac Day dawn service the March 15 massacre showed “there is still much division to overcome” in the world and called for a recommitment “to the principles of freedom, democracy and peace that the country had fought for”.
New Zealand last week lowered its terror threat level from high to medium, meaning another attack was judged “feasible” rather than “very likely”.
Still, the number of services in Auckland was reduced to avoid overstretching security forces.
Anzac Day marks the April 25, 1915 landing of Australian and New Zealand troops at Gallipoli on the Turkish peninsula in an ill-fated WW1 campaign against German-backed Ottoman forces.
More than 10,000 Australian and New Zealand servicemen died in the campaign, and while it failed in its military objectives, it gave rise to commemorations of the courage and close friendship that bind the two countries.
Prince William sat alongside Ardern during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Auckland War Memorial Museum while dozens of armed police officers kept guard and snipers could be seen on the building’s roof.
Similar dawn services were held in Australia where Prime Minister Scott Morrison played down reports of a plot to target the Gallipoli event following the arrest in Turkey of a suspected Islamic State member.
Australian Veteran Affairs Minister Darren Chester had earlier told broadcaster ABC that Turkish police arrested someone “alleged to be involved in activities that were designed to disrupt the Anzac day services at Gallipoli”.
But Morrison later said the arrest was a “routine thing that we’ve seen happen with Turkish authorities”.
“We could not say at all that there is any link between that arrest and any planned event at Gallipoli,” he said.
In New Zealand, Muslim youth association leader Azeem Zafarullah said it was important for the Muslim community to take part in the Anzac Day services.
“It’s important that we show the public that we’re here to represent our country — we are loyal citizens,” he said.
Zafarullah said the Muslim community had received a lot of support after the mosque massacres, noting: “It’s important that we show that support back.”
Page 84 caption: An Australian serviceman taking part in Anzac Day ceremonies at the military cemetery of the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, northern France, yesterday.