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Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Christchurch shootings at two mosques leave 49 dead, Australian arrested in relation to terror attack
At least one gunman with a semi-automatic weapon attacked worshippers gathering for Friday prayers in two locations: a mosque at Deans Avenue in central Christchurch and another mosque in the nearby suburb of Linwood.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed one of the people taken into custody was an Australian-born citizen.
The ABC has identified Grafton man Brenton Tarrant as the man visible in livestreamed footage of the attack.
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Two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were found on a nearby vehicle, but defence force officers disarmed one and are still working on disarming the second.
stuff.co.nz - Black Caps v Bangladesh [cricket] test cancelled after gunmen attack Christchurch mosques
The test match between the Black Caps and Bangladesh will not go ahead.
The Bangladesh cricket team escaped the Christchurch mosque near Hagley Park where a mass shooting took place on Friday. They were due to play New Zealand a short distance away at Hagley Oval on Saturday.
stuff.co.nz - live coverage
* A gunman walked into a mosque on Deans Ave, Christchurch carrying a semi-automatic weapon and opened fire. He live streamed the attack.
* A second shooting occurred at a mosque in Linwood.
* At least 49 people were dead as of 9pm - 41 at the Central Mosque, 7 at Linwood Mosque, 1 in Christchurch Hospital.
* 48 people are in hospital with gunshots wounds as of 9pm, including young children. Other injured went to medical centres.
* A 28-year-old man has been charged with murder and is due to appear in the Christchurch District Court on Saturday morning.
* He was arrested on Brougham St in a car which had explosives and guns inside.
El Grauniad - Rightwing extremist wrote manifesto before livestreaming Christchurch shooting
The man who livestreamed himself attacking a Christchurch mosque and murdering at least 40 people identified himself online before the rampage as Australian citizen Brenton Tarrant.
On a now-deleted Twitter account, Tarrant posted multiple photos of what appear to be machine gun magazines and a link to what is being described as a manifesto for his actions.
The 74-page document starts off quoting a Dylan Thomas poem, Do not go gentle into that good night, and then moves onto a rant about white genocide.
Tarrant outlines his motivations: including to “create an atmosphere of fear” and to “incite violence” against Muslims while offering up autobiographical details.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by shortscreen on Saturday March 16 2019, @01:40AM (6 children)
If the attacker was rightwing, does everyone who is rightwing share the blame? If the attacker was muslim, does everyone who is muslim share the blame?
Note that these labels, like many other ones, are extremely broad and ambiguous. (In terms of religious/social values, muslims could even be considered rightwing.) But that doesn't stop some people from arguing in favor of spreading the blame. Although sadly, the specific people and their position varies depending on which group is being discussed. Anyone who tends to view an issue as "us vs. them" and takes a side will overlook the hypocrisy of their own side. But they'll all see the hypocrisy of the other side, and this results in a positive feedback loop of lowering standards for one's own behavior and logic. Pretty soon you have partisan retardation and identity politics everywhere.
So I'm wondering, what is the alternative? You can't get everyone to agree on everything. You can't edit the quran to remove every line that may be objectionable to non-muslims. You can't get non-muslim westerners to stop making dumb comments like "we should nuke the middle east and turn it all to glass." I think the only thing to be done is to resist the urge to consider one perpetrator as representative of a group. Even if an attacker identifies as part of a group, those other people are still not the ones who pulled the trigger (of course, if they provided material aid for the purpose that would be a different story).
I'm sure AC will be along to say that THEIR_SIDE is squeaky clean, and that I must be a member of OTHER_SIDE. Anyone have any different thoughts?
(Score: 2) by TheFool on Saturday March 16 2019, @01:51AM (1 child)
The alternative is to start dealing with people as people again, rather than people as labels.
These aren't "Muslims" being attacked by "a right-wing nut job", these are neighbors being attacked by a neighbor in Christchurch. It is a problem for the people of Christchurch to deal with, even if it appears on the surface to be a similar problem to what others are dealing with because of the overuse of labels. If you can't trust your neighbor not to kill you, what kind of shithole do you live in?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 16 2019, @02:46AM
The foundation of Western liberalism no less. The muslim community in Christchurch proffered extensive help and support to the wider community after the 2011 earthquakes. Identity politics is taking us down a dark path.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 16 2019, @03:49AM
You forgot the attacker was Australian. Or did you censor that information on purpose?
(point: end playing identity politics is necessary, but not sufficient)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 16 2019, @11:25AM (2 children)
Not all right wingers are terrorist but 90% of terrorists in the past 10 years are right wing. You consider that uninteresting?
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Saturday March 16 2019, @02:21PM (1 child)
What if 100% of terrorists were rightwing? How does that information help you stop terrorism?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 16 2019, @05:27PM
You increase policing of that group, of course.