“Those are very challenging issues for enforcement agencies – and I don’t think that’s just New Zealand. I don’t have any power to classify a lot of ,” he said. At least 50 people were killed at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, by accused gunman Brenton Tarrant in a mass shooting on Friday, March 15th. A lot of the recent attacks are based on that concept of “great replacement” theory and the disinformation that is built around that. “The other challenge is the underlying reasoning and rationale that this form of hate crime is based on. It normalises as something that is … inevitable”.Īblett-Hampson told the Guardian that while the censor’s office had banned the alleged shooter’s specific manifesto, there was a variety of material surrounding it that did not reach New Zealand’s legal thresholds for a ban. “It doesn’t glorify it, but it doesn’t also push back on it. The death toll from the mosque shootings rose to 50 after investigators found another body at one of the mosques, said New Zealands Police Commissioner said on Sunday. A further search of his cellphone showed that he had forwarded the mosque shooting video on May 19, last year. But he had concerns that its propagation meant it could spread to audiences who were receptive to radicalisation. A copy of the mosque shooter’s first video that he live-streamed was also found. Many of the groups sharing the Buffalo material online were not directly glorifying it, Hattotuwa said – some believe it was a “false flag” or “distraction” set up by elites to divert attention. “The anti-vax landscape ones who are front and centre, distributing, propagating and amplifying this content – that’s an entirely new phenomena that wasn’t there in March 2019,” he said. Within those groups, the Buffalo material was already spreading, he said, with several accounts that appeared to be expressly set up to disseminate the video and so-called manifesto. Anti-vaccine factions had intermingled with far right and Q-Anon groups, and developed new, conspiratorial and extreme communities, typically hosted on Telegram. While it’s impossible to track the true number if people who have viewed the material on platforms such as Telegram, Hattotuwa said that New Zealand’s fringe and misinformation-spreading ecosystems had grown dramatically since the Christchurch attacks in 2019. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to address the press shortly on the incident, according to New Zealand's TVNZ.Within New Zealand, researchers are concerned about the spread of copies of the alleged Buffalo terrorist’s propaganda, and say the country has developed fertile ground for extreme material among the pandemic era’s conspiratorial and anti-authoritarian movements.ĭr Sanjana Hattotuwa, who studies disinformation and fringe online communities for Te Punaha Matatini research centre, said the researchers had observed the Buffalo live stream video and propaganda material spreading extensively within New Zealand groups they monitored.The Bangladesh Cricket team, who were visiting the city at the time of the alleged attack were not inside the mosque, despite their tourbus being pictured close to the scene. Forty-nine people have been shot dead and 48 injured in attacks targeting Muslims at two mosques during Friday prayers in Christchurch, in the worst.Christchurch City Council tweeted that it was locking down a "number of central city buildings, including the Civic Offices and Central Library." The city is currently on lockdown, with authorities advising residents to stay inside. Video from outside Christchurch hospitals shows ambulances bringing multiple injured back from the scene.One mosque attendee told CNN the gunman fired for "10 to 15 minutes" taking aim at more than 200 people.Authorities have yet to confirm the number of dead or injured.Eyewitnesses from the scene report a mass shooting at a Christchurch mosque on Deans Avenue, including an unspecified number of dead and injured. Scores of family members were awaiting news about missing loved ones, i ncluding children, at a local hospital.
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