2019 Christchurch Mosque Shootings

Overview

2019 Christchurch Mosque Shootings refers to mass shootings that occurred in Christchurch, New Zealand in mid-March 2019, which were livestreamed on Facebook by the attacker. At least 49 people were killed in the attack and at least 20 more sustained non-fatal injuries. In a document circulated prior to the incident, the suspected shooter describes himself as a "kebab removalist" and cites the "great replacement" conspiracy theory as a motivation for the attack.

Background

On March 15th, 2019, a post was submitted to 8chan's /pol/^[1] board announcing a planned attack that would be livestreamed on New Zealand resident Brenton Tarrant's Facebook page (shown below). The post was accompanied by an illustration of an Australian Shitposter and links to his manifesto.^[2]

That day, shootings took place at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand. The attacks were livestreamed by the shooter on Facebook, which showed the shooter entering a mosque while shooting a shotgun, before switching to an assault rifle and shooting people inside. During portions of the stream, the songs "Remove Kebab" and the Initial D song "Gas Gas Gas" could be heard playing in the background.

Developments

That evening, Twitter user Nick Monroe posted a thread with live updates about the shooting (shown below).

Meanwhile, Twitter user @MisterAntiBully posted a clip from the alleged shooter's livestream saying "subscribe to PewDiePie" (shown below).

Also that evening, the @ChannelNewsAsia uploaded footage of a New Zealand police spokesperson confirming multiple fatalities at two different mosques, and urging New Zealand residents to not visit mosques in the country (shown below).

Manifesto

In the document shared on 8chan prior to the shooting, the author professes to be an "eco-fascist," discussing the "great replacement" right-wing conspiracy theory and cites Turning Point USA's Candance Owens as an inspiration before also claiming the game Spyro the Dragon 3 taught him "ethno-nationalism" and that Fortnite taught him "to floss on the corpses of my enemies" (shown below).

Additionally, the shooter put a version of the Navy Seal Copypasta under the heading "You are a bigot,racist,xenophobe,islamophobe,nazi,fascist!" (shown below).

That day, an article titled "Shitposting, Inspirational Terrorism, and the Christchurch Mosque Massacre" was published by journalist Robert Evans on his personal blog BellingCat,^[6] which examined the use of memes and shitposting by the suspect.

Senator Fraser Anning's Response

That day, Australian Senator Fraser Anning released a statement about the shooting, stating "the real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place" (shown below).

Shortly after, Twitter user @LATSeema^[4] tweeted the statement along with the message "I don't think I have ever seen a statement like this from an elected official after a terrorist attack."

Eggboy

On March 16th, 2019, an Australian teenager hit Senator Anning in the head with an egg. Anning, then, hit the boy in the face, and the boy was wrestled to the ground by several adults on the scene.

That day, ABC news' Henry Belot posted a video of the attack to Twitter, where it received more than 41,000 retweets, 70,000 likes and 9 million views in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Someone has just slapped an egg on the back of Australian Senator Fraser Anning's head, who immediately turned around and punched him in the face. politicsabc</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/abcnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">abcnews pic.twitter.com/HkDZe2rn0X

— Henry Belot (@Henry_Belot) March 16, 2019

Many online praised the teenager for the attack, referring to him as eggboy, while criticizing Anning for smacking the boy in the face (examples below). The hashtag soon became a worldwide trending term.^[7]

PewDiePie's Response

Also on March 15th, 2019, PewDiePie tweeted^[3] that he was "absolutely sickened" that the shooter uttered his name (shown below). Within 24 hours, the tweet gathered upwards of 400,000 likes and 98,000 retweets.

Donald Trump's Response

The following morning, Trump posted a tweet^[5] expressing his "warmest sympathy and best wishes" and stating "The U.S. stands by New Zealand for anything we can do" (shown below).

Reddit Bans /r/WatchPeopleDie

That day, BuzzFeed tech reporter Ryan Mac tweeted that Reddit banned /r/watchpeopledie in the wake of the shooting, noting that "users were sharing links of the NZ video in the group last night" (shown below).

In follow-up tweets, Mac claimed to have spoken with a Reddit employee who revealed "it had a long debate about the continued existence of that subreddit," noted that /r/gore had been banned as well and posted a statement by Reddit saying "posting content that incites or glorifies violence will get users and communities banned" (shown below).

Censorship in New Zealand

On March 18th, 2019, the Australian news channel 9 News reported that an 18-year-old New Zealand resident had been arrested for sharing the livestream video of the attack. Though he was granted interim name suppression, the teenager was declined bail and charged with sharing the video along with a photograph of one of the mosques with the message "target acquired" and "inciting violence."

That day, New Zealand Chief Censor David Shanks released a statement^[8] that the video of the attack was illegal to share, view or download:

"Every New Zealander should now be clear that this clip is an illegal, harmful and reprehensible record created to promote a terrorist cause. If you have a record of it, you must delete it. If you see it, you should report it. Possessing or distributing it is illegal, and only supports a criminal agenda."

Search Interest

External References