The self-proclaimed racist who attacked a New Zealand mosque during Friday prayers in an assault that killed 49 people used rifles covered in white-supremacist graffiti and listened to a song glorifying a Bosnian Serb war criminal.
These details highlight the toxic beliefs behind an unprecedented, live-streamed massacre, which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called B次元官网网址渙ne of New ZealandB次元官网网址檚 darkest days.B次元官网网址�
Some of the material posted by the killer resembles the meme-heavy hate speech prominent in dark corners of the internet. Beneath the online tropes lies a man who matter-of-factly wrote that he was preparing to conduct a horrific attack.
Music
The shooterB次元官网网址檚 soundtrack as he drove to the mosque included an upbeat-sounding tune that belies its roots in a destructive European nationalist and religious conflict. The nationalist Serb song from the 1992-95 war that tore apart Yugoslavia glorifies Serbian fighters and Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, who is jailed at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague for genocide and other war crimes against Bosnian Muslims. A YouTube video for the song shows emaciated Muslim prisoners in Serb-run camps during the war. B次元官网网址淏eware Ustashas and Turks,B次元官网网址� says the song, using wartime, derogatory terms for Bosnian Croats and Muslims.
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When the gunman returned to his car after the shooting, the song B次元官网网址淔ireB次元官网网址� by English rock band B次元官网网址淭he Crazy World of Arthur BrownB次元官网网址� can be heard blasting from the speakers. The singer bellows, B次元官网网址淚 am the god of hellfire!B次元官网网址� as the man, a 28-year-old Australian, drives away.
Symbol
At least two rifles used in the shooting bore references to Ebba Akerlund, an 11-year-old girl killed in an April 2017 truck-ramming attack in Stockholm by Rakhmat Akilov, a 39-year-old Uzbek man. AkerlundB次元官网网址檚 death is memorialized in the gunmanB次元官网网址檚 apparent manifesto, published online, as an event that led to his decision to wage war against what he perceives as the enemies of Western civilization.
The number 14 is also seen on the gunmanB次元官网网址檚 rifles. It may refer to B次元官网网址�14 Words,B次元官网网址� which according to the Southern Poverty Law Center is a white supremacist slogan linked to Adolf HitlerB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淢ein Kampf.B次元官网网址� He also used the symbol of the Schwarze Sonne, or black sun, which B次元官网网址渉as become synonymous with myriad far-right groups,B次元官网网址� according to the centre, which monitors hate groups.
Historical references
In photographs from a now deleted Twitter account associated with the suspect that match the weaponry seen in his live-streamed video, there is a reference to B次元官网网址淰ienna 1683,B次元官网网址� the year the Ottoman Empire suffered a defeat in its siege of the city at the Battle of Kahlenberg. B次元官网网址淎cre 1189,B次元官网网址� a reference to the Crusades, is also written on the guns.
Four names of legendary Serbs who fought against the 500-year-rule of the Muslim Ottomans in the Balkans, written in the Cyrillic alphabet, are also seen on the gunmanB次元官网网址檚 rifles.
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The name Charles Martel, who the Southern Poverty Law Center says white supremacists credit B次元官网网址渨ith saving Europe by defeating an invading Muslim force at the Battle of Tours in 734,B次元官网网址� was also on the weapons. They also bore the inscription B次元官网网址淢alta 1565,B次元官网网址� a reference to the Great Siege of Malta, when the Maltese and the Knights of Malta defeated the Turks.
The names of two 15th-century Hungarian military leaders known for fighting against the advancing Ottomans are also mentioned. John HunyadiB次元官网网址檚 name is written on a rifle, while Mihaly Szilagyi HorogszegiB次元官网网址檚 name is on an ammunition magazine.
Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press
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