Photo: Christine O'ConnorTears flowed as councillors expressed ''aroha'' for the Muslim community - and vowed to tackle racism head-on - at a special Dunedin City Council meeting yesterday. Councillors, led by Mayor Dave Cull, took turns expressing horror at Friday's atrocity, in which 50 members of the Muslim community were killed and 50 more injured at two Christchurch mosques. Deputy mayor Chris Staynes said he had ''shed quite a few tears'' for the country's lost innocence and its failure to keep the Muslim community safe. Councillors then voted unanimously to express the council's abhorrence of events in Christchurch, sympathy for those killed and support for those left behind. Dunedin Multi Ethnic Council president Paul Gourlie responded by asking councillors to forget the perpetrator's name, but instead commit to something even tougher.

Source: Otago Daily Times March 19, 2019 15:33 UTC