DUBAI: A giant image of a grieving Jacinda Ardern was beamed out from the world’s tallest bulding on Friday (March 22), a tribute from Dubai for the New Zealand Prime Minister’s high-profile support for Muslims after a terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques.
Featured on the 829m-tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the image of Ms Ardern donning a headscarf and embracing a woman at the Kilbirnie mosque in Wellington was accompanied by the Arabic word “salam”, or peace, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
An image of the building was tweeted by Sheik Mohammed, Prime Minister and Vice-President of the UAE, and ruler of the emirate of Dubai.
“New Zealand today fell silent in honour of the mosque attacks’ martyrs. Thank you PM Jacinda Ardern and New Zealand for your sincere empathy and support that has won the respect of 1.5 billion Muslims after the terrorist attack that shook the Muslim community around the world,” Sheik Mohammed wrote.
Ms Ardern and New Zealand have been widely praised for the outpouring of empathy and unity and their response to the twin mosque attack.
During the recent weekly Muslim prayer service on Friday, Ms Ardern joined about 20,000 people standing quietly at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, in front of Al Noor Mosque, one of two mosques in the neighbourhood where gunman Brenton Tarrant shot and killed 50 people the week before.
Many women also donned headscarves to show their support.
“New Zealand mourns with you. We are one,” Ms Ardern said in a short speech, followed by two minutes of silence.
HH Sheikh Mohammed
@HHShkMohd
New Zealand today fell silent in honour of the mosque attacks’ martyrs. Thank you PM @jacindaardern and New Zealand for your sincere empathy and support that has won the respect of 1.5 billion Muslims after the terrorist attack that shook the Muslim community around the world.
Ms Ardern, who swiftly denounced the shooting as terrorism, has announced a ban on military-style semi-automatic and assault rifles.
Muslims account for just over 1 per cent of New Zealand’s 4.8-million population, a 2013 census showed, most of whom were born overseas.