New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivered an impassioned speech Tuesday about the Christchurch mass shootings, vowing never to say the name of the accused gunman.
Ardern implored people to “speak the names of those who were lost” in Friday’s shootings that left at least 50 people dead “rather than the name” of the 28-year-old Australian man who allegedly took them.
“He is a terrorist, he is a criminal, he is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless,” Ardern told her country’s parliament.
“He may have sought notoriety, but we in New Zealand will give him nothing, not even his name,” she added.
Ardern also criticized social media platforms for hosting the gunman’s livestream of the attack.
“They are the publisher, not just the postman,” she said. “There cannot be a case of all profit, no responsibility.”
Facebook said it removed the 17-minute livestream after someone reported it, and erased more than 1.5 million copies. The video, also posted on a message board, continued to spread nonetheless.
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