EDITORIAL:
The killers of Muslims at prayer in Christchurch on Friday have achieved exactly the opposite of their sick intentions. They have united New Zealander in horror and anguish that such a thing could happen to any people in this country.
In that anguish there comes a deep and lasting realisation that our Muslim community is very much a part of who we are. Their grief is shared by any decent human being. We embrace them as fellow New Zealanders and we want them to know that.
As the Prime Minister put it so well, "They have chosen to make New Zealand their home, and it is their home. They are us".
That of course is exactly the opposite of the message these killers want to deliver. Only one person has been charged following the massacres at two mosques in Christchurch but if the shooter acted alone, he is sadly not alone in his hate.