Christchurch mosque shootings: Mongrel Mob Kingdom drops Hitler's infamous catch-cry 'sieg heil'

The world's biggest Mongrel Mob group says it will abandon use of Nazi symbolism in the aftermath of last Friday's terrorist attack in Christchurch.

Mongrel Mob Kingdom president Paito Fatu told Maori Television's Te Ao that his organisation would no longer use the Mob's rallying cry of the past 50 years, "sieg heil".

The phrase is German for "hail victory" and was the salute of Adolf Hitler's German National Socialist Party, or Nazi regime.

Instead "Mongrel Mob" will be the new catch-cry, Fatu told Te Ao, in an effort to move away from violent crime including domestic violence and drug abuse.

"I like our brothers and sisters to acknowledge each other by saying 'Mongrel Mob'."

Fatu claims the move is part of a transition to a new cause focusing on empowering whānau, women and children, Te Ao reported.

"It's about a big mind shift. It's about getting out there and doing things productively, constructively and positive to the best of our ability. Doing what everyone else is doing and trying to do a little bit better."

Anti-establishment and hate symbols were adopted by the Mongrel Mob in the early 1960s as a way of rebelling against "the system".

But the link to Hitler and his atrocities in World War II drew widespread condemnation.

"I look at this era as a healing time," Fatu said of the new attitude.

"When we look back at how we used it, it was rebelling against the system. Anything that the system saw was evil and bad, we [adopted] some of those and that was just our way of [giving] the system the finger."

The Kingdom is the fastest growing Mob chapter in New Zealand, with more than 400 members locally and 200 from countries including Canada, Russia, France and the Solomon Islands, Te Ao said.

Fatu told Te Ao most regional chapters were not ready to follow suit and he would not attempt to sway them.

"When we do engage with other mob chapters, when they come up to me most of them will say 'Mongrel Mob'.

"Hopefully this kōrero here may resonate to some of our rangatira perhaps outside to our extended families to think about things."