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POST TIME: 27 April, 2019 00:00 00 AM
NZ MOSQUE ATTACK
Extremism must be defeated, says Prince William
AFP, Christchurch

Extremism must be defeated, says Prince William

Britain's Prince William meets the public during a walk near the Christchurch Earthquake Memorial in New Zealand yesterday. AFP PHOTO

In an emotional meeting with survivors of the New Zealand mosques massacre, Britain’s Prince William appealed yesterday for “extremism in all forms” to be defeated.

About 160 people gathered at the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch to meet the prince who had earlier told first responders to the March 15 carnage that when “a good friend” is in need “you travel to their place and you put your arms around them.”

Six weeks to the day from when a self-styled white supremacist killed 50 people and wounded just as many in two Christchurch mosques, the prince said he stood with the people of New Zealand, the people of Christchurch and the Muslim community.

“An act of violence was designed to change New Zealand, but instead, the grief of a nation revealed just how deep your wells of empathy, compassion, warmth and love truly run,” the prince said after arriving at the mosque from a meeting with hospital staff who had tended to the wounded. “In a moment of acute pain, you stood up, and you stood together. In reaction to tragedy, you showed something remarkable.