‘Hate will not win. We stand as one’
Elin Daraghmeh, who was airlifted to Auckland, also remained critically ill yesterday.
The dead were aged three to 77 and they were from more than a dozen countries.
A total of 41 died in the Al Noor Mosque, seven in the Linwood Masjid Mosque and two in hospital.
More harrowing stories from inside the Al Noor Mosque emerged yesterday. Shihadeh Nasasrah told how he spent 10 terrifying minutes lying underneath two dying men as the massacre unfolded.
The 63-year-old, who was shot twice in the leg, said of the gunman: “He would go out and bring more ammunition and resume shooting.
“Every time he stopped, I thought he was gone. But he returned over and over again.
“I was afraid to leave because I didn’t know the safest way out.”
Dad-of-three Nasasrah said the imam was delivering the sermon when the gunman burst into the mosque on Friday.
He added: “Panic spread. We scrambled to leave towards a second door that leads to a hall and then to the street but the bullets brought us down.
“Two people came on top of me and the man approached us and opened fire. I felt them dying. I felt their blood.”
New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern met mourners at a mosque in Wellington yesterday.
Ardern was visibly moved as she hugged members of the Muslim community and laid a floral tribute at a makeshift memorial at Kilbirnie mosque.
She confirmed the bodies of those murdered had started to be released to family members last night. All of them are expected to be returned to families by Wednesday.
A vigil was also held in the capital to show solidarity for the victims.
Tarrant, 28, appeared in court on Saturday, charged with murder. He was remanded in custody until April 5.
Police said two other people arrested after the attacks are not believed to be involved.
Tarrant, who lived in the city of Dunedin, obtained a firearms licence in 2017 but had then illegally modified his weapons.
Neighbours described him as a “buffed-up weirdo” who vanished from his rented home nine days before the attack.
Ardern vowed to change the gun laws in the wake of the atrocity.
A fund send up to help the families of victims had raised more than £2.2million yesterday. HIS aim was to slaughter innocent Muslims and shatter the multicultural harmony of Christchurch.
But yesterday locals in the city turned out in force to show they rejected the hate that inspired Brenton Tarrant’s attack.
Muslims and Christians, Sikhs and Maoris, biker gangs and Girl Guides all came together.
Their message? To show the world that “New Zealand is one”.
Throughout the day, they gathered at the edge of a police cordon outside the An Noor Mosque to pay their respects to the 50 dead and to send prayers to those whose lives still hang in the balance.
Hamish Mitchell, 23, broke down in tears as he remembered his New Zealand futsal teammate Atta Elayyan.
He said: “I’m absolutely heartbroken. It’s devastating but we’re not going to let hate win. We are going to be strong.
“We’re all as one, all races together. We wanted to be here as a group to remember Atta.
“When I got the phone call saying he’d died, my whole world came crashing down.”
Hamish’s dad Martin added: “We can’t let these people win. We need to stand together.
“That man wanted to drive a wedge between races. He’s done the opposite. New Zealanders will never be divided.”
As he spoke, a group of Samoan women comforted a sobbing Muslim man who had collapsed at the base of a tree.
Nearby, two young girls placed ferns – the symbol of New Zealand – on to a growing makeshift shrine.
One card written by a child read: “I’m so sorry for your loss. We should not be afraid to be in New Zealand.”
Another said: “It was your home and safety and they stole that from you.”
Other tributes were chalked on to trees in Hagley Park and written on paper hearts attached to wooden sticks.
Members of the Mangu Kaha Aotearoa biker gang performed a haka – the traditional ceremonial Maori dance – to honour those killed. dgdgdgddgd
Among those watching was Ridhwaan Nazim, 20, who travelled from Auckland to comfort his fellow Muslims.
He said: “People have been coming up to me, hugging me.
“It makes me proud to be a New Zealander. Hatred will never win in this country. We are one.”
Trevor Probert, 54, and his wife Eirwen, 49, originally from Bargoed, Wales, came to pay their respects.
He said: “We moved away from here in 2011 after the earthquakes but could not stay away and came back 18 months ago.
“The quakes were devastating but they were a natural disaster. This is a man-made disaster, made by one evil man.”
Eirwen added: “Christchurch can show the world how to deal with something like this – by coming together.”
In the New Zealand capital Wellington yesterday, about 11,000 people attended a vigil for the Christchurch victims.