The world is again stirred up by a terrible act of terror. This time, New Zealand became a cruel witness to the shootings that took place at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Mosque on Friday, March 15.
As many as 49 people were killed in the shooting carried out by several people who were reportedly anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim. In launching the action, they went to two mosques and broadcast live shootings on Facebook social media.
After the news broke, many parties were angry with the actions of the perpetrators. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern even called the incident one of the “darkest days”. He also said that if this action would not destabilize the multicultural values that had already existed in New Zealand.
The terrible events also received a lot of sympathy from all corners of the world, including football players and clubs.
After Mesut Ozil revealed his sadness over the damned action, Mohamed Salah, who also through his Twitter account, also sent his sympathy to all the victims. He wrote,
“Horrible news from New Zealand. I shared my condolences to the families of innocent victims who lost their lives. This is a crime committed by people who are not human,” Salah said.
Besides Mesut Ozil and Mohamed Salah, top European players such as Franck Ribery, Kalidou Koulibaly, Demba Ba, Kun Aguero, Victor Moses and young players Jadon Sacho also gave sympathy for the barbaric actions that killed a number of people.
Do not stop at the green field actors. Some European elite clubs also gave their solidarity action. In general, the clubs expressed their condolences and concerns about the bloody incident.
Through their official Twitter account, several top clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester United, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Paris Saint Germain, Borussia Dortmund, FC Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspurs, and Liverpool close their ranks to show their solidarity.
Not only outside the country, but several domestic clubs were also united in condemning inappropriate actions. The clubs are Arema FC, PSM Makassar, Persija Jakarta, Madura United, and Persela Lamongan.
Apart from players and several clubs, supporters in Turkey also shouted out the phrase ‘Allahu Akbar’ for the tragedy. Fans of Fenerbache’s club heard saying takbir all together in the match against Sivasspor.
Even before echoing that sentence at the Saracoglu Stadium, all Fenerbache and Sivasspor players and officials kept quiet silently for a few seconds. Even though it didn’t have a direct effect, what they did was something extraordinary.
After the incident, the New Zealand Prime Minister stated the perpetrators of the shooting terrorism in Christchurch, Brenton Tarrant would be severely punished. She even refused to mention the name of Tarrant and promised that the authorities would investigate why the Australian man could carry out acts of terror.
In addition to this, reported by The Week, the Prime Minister also promised to tighten and strengthen weapons laws in the country. She considers that the New Zealand firearms law is still weaker than in Australia.
