New Zealand PM Ardern urges students to reject hate

March 21, 2019 00:09

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visited old students at Cashmere high school, which is dealing with the loss of two students, and implored the children to join her in rejecting messages of racism and hate.

This is my request, I alone cannot get rid of those things, I need help from every single one of us, she said. So yes, gather together, show those outpourings of love, but also let New Zealand be a place where there is no tolerance for racism ever. Thats something we can all do.

The crowd of 400 students performed a haka and took the opportunity to question Ardern over the attack. One student asked the prime minister how she was feeling, to which Ardern replied: I am very sad.

As she promised on Tuesday, Ardern did not say the attackers name, and at one point was spontaneously hugged by one of the pupils.

Asked if she would welcome a visit by Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg to New Zealand after she criticised social media for its role in spreading footage of the attack, she said Im not interested in a PR exercise.

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