New Zealand has responded to its first terror attack by an Islamic state-inspired extremist with an outpouring of support from and for the Muslim community, as leaders emphasise that the actions of the attacker must not be seen as a reflection on the wider community.
On Friday, a man stabbed a number of shoppers at a supermarket in Auckland, before being shot dead by police.
In the aftermath, prime minister Jacinda Ardern said he was a lone-wolf extremist, who had long been known to police and under surveillance.
“What happened today was despicable. It was hateful, it was wrong, it was carried out by an individual, not a faith, not a culture, not an ethnicity, but an individual person who was gripped by ideology that is not supported here by anyone or any community.”
New Zealand’s Muslim community, which is still recovering from the country’s worst terror attack in 2019, have offered their support to victims – and expressed their anxiety that the extremist could be seen as…