country's docket stays. the police will be giving more details as they can is the situation unfolds whilst i cannot give any confirmation at this stage around fatalities in case your t. s. what i can say is that it is clear that this is one of new zealand's darkest days. clearly what has happened here is an extraordinary and unprecedented ect of violence many of those who will have been directly affected by this shooting may be migrants to new zealand they may even be refuted genes here they have chosen to make new zealand their home and it is their home they are us the person who has good pitch why did this violence against us is not they have no place in new zealand it is no place in new zealand for such acts of extreme and unprecedented

violence which is it is clear towards for now my thoughts and i'm sure the thoughts of all new zealanders with those who have being affected and also with the families my thoughts also to those in christchurch who are still dealing with an unfolding situation the advice from police continues to be that people remain indoors i had knowledge that they may mean that some families are separated but please continue to listen out for information as it comes to light that's been directly provided by the new zealand place with food information but as i say they remain in lockdown we are potentially still dealing with an evolving situation and again as i say across multiple sites please be assured that the police actively managing the situation christchurch hospital is dedicated to treating those who are arriving at the hospital as we speak as well it's. as i leave here i will be

returning directly on i can your flight to wellington i didn't caesar already convening in wellington are we looking to meet with them as soon as i land it's my expectation that once i arrive and have been briefed i intend to speak again publicly after that point or since that statement was made by new zealand's prime minister the lockdown has been lifted at christchurch schools after the shootings two mosques and the police commissioner told us earlier that four people are now in custody norman is a journalist and she was at the briefing from the briefing of the police commissioner mike bush in wellington she joins us now on the line from wellington tell us more about what the police commissioner said. i followed the police. right from the get go this was an critically injured grave serious incident taking

place and. he said that there had been a significant number of to tell him to tell a teacher that we don't know exactly what that number is six he concluded that school peak was taken into custody one is a woman three when this all unfolded at about two o'clock this afternoon that was friday prayers. shooting took place to mosques in christchurch there are about five hundred people at one of the mosques and about one hundred sixty at that. but then the issue cricket team which is going to is here at the moment coming into the larger mosque crotchets where the bullet rained out and i thankfully it's a two way here has now been came so. obviously it is quite a real deal and we do have good mistake she was saying that nothing seems to

be of this sort of increased rate of scale police commissioner who can confirm whether or not this is a terrorist attack that he is looking into that but he described it as extremely tragic and twitter there are still those texts some of those he couldn't rule out it is as you said and i'm precedented intervention for new zealand and people i imagine sean not just in christchurch where this happened but across the country and police as we've heard telling people to stay away from all across new zealand tell us about some of the first reactions from the pub a this is this doesn't happen very often in new zealand and a particular community was targeted here the muslim community what are people saying about that. yes well what is the place of advice for most.

know when to visit these mosques. the prime minister has called this an incredibly she says that. refugee people from all migrant community would have likely been a member of a mosque with worshipping when this took place. we've heard from witnesses who were at the mosques one man he ran out and he don't say had no time to get his truth on he just ran out and ran on to the street you spoke to one of my colleagues saying if we with these women on the ground to talk with a lot. of the muslim community and jail and is relatively small and they will be courts deeply shocked by what has happened had they been any any warnings or any threats against the muslim community in the past. well we spoke today to a woman from

a muslim association she did say and i must stress this is an unconfirmed report that on facebook they have been a straight. but look there is as i say an unconfirmed report but no. threats towards the person to see in the past as far as i'm aware i was just yesterday in to be a whim a syrian family for integrated into the village and moved here we have about a thousand syrians to the gym and graffiti of the war and i was speaking to them and i asked the mistakes i even discrimination at eighty three. and they say no it didn't take being incredibly welcoming to ben ickes out there is safe here. the suspects were do we know or bought them four people arrested three men and one woman we understand and one of the suspects is believed to have been born in australia. that's correct believe that one of the

spy suspects excuse me is a man called christian terrorists and he is understood to be a good one in australia we don't know much more about them i'm afraid at this stage . the place they did i asked them how have the quote state detectives and i think what it took great bravery the place to go into exactly what that was that i'm sure would be very interesting to see a. little bit were explosive devices on cars and they were safely dismiss it just coming back to how this attack is just precedented in nature this doesn't happen very often in new zealand talk to us about the environment in new zealand this is a country where police are not armed i mean how is this a time how are these attacks likely to do of changed things the. well that's

a very good question as of today as of the six day police across the country are. shut their doors people are on high alert. security. totally baked out. a heads they. have. around the place but it's something that has never really happened. to carry. a firearm some of it said they take them out school serious incidents. there or not. this attack today is a watershed moment for the villains i'm not sure but i do think there will be a lot of debate around this helping people access. attach the explosive device to then strike should this attack i'm sure this will. investigate it

thank you so much for speaking to us cushman norman a journalist joining us from a wellington new zealand if you're joining us on al-jazeera we are covering breaking news out of new zealand this friday morning and waste in fact six pm six twenty pm in the afternoon in an unfolding situation in christchurch as we've heard the lockdown that was in place on schools in christchurch has now been lifted usually students would finish school about a three in the afternoon is now six twenty pm in new zealand police have also said that four people are now in custody they've been arrested three men and one woman after shootings in two mosques one of the main mosque in christchurch they are multiple casualties with unconfirmed reports of up to thirty people killed

witnesses have described one man dressed in black. entering the on nor mosque in central christchurch during friday prayers dozens of shots were heard and people ran out in terror at least one of the shooters is said to have live streamed his attack but lease urging people not to share that video online in the sea they've also found bombs attached to several cars which have now been disabled a short while ago we spoke to ana burns finances the reporter for television new zealand here's what she told us and let's get the latest now and bring out burns francis once again she is a t.v. end said reporter anna bring is the latest i understand the knock down in christ church has been lifted. that's correct we've just received in the last couple of minutes a notification from police that the lockdown across all christchurch schools all schools in the country region has now been lifted that means children who have been

kept in school for quite a long time more than they used to three hours over to from when schools would normally finish they can now go home much to the relief of their parents obviously families of those children will have spent a worrying few hours hoping that all the children will be safe in those schools so police say that means there is still a large police presence across the city but that those children cannot go home for the evening what about the mosques the situation at the mosques. well the situation remains unchanged obviously the these two mosques that were the scenes of these horrific acts are now crime scenes but of course there are a number of mosques across the rest of the country is the most muslim population is not bigots only about forty six thousand people at the last count but there are mosques around all of the main seems as of new zealand and in much smaller towns as well with these communities would congregate so police have said that as

a precaution and a precaution only they don't believe there's any active three to those mosques but as a precaution they have seen patrol cars to every mosque around the country that they're aware of and they're also asking that mosques keep their doors shot until they say this threat is over and you know i think for for our viewers it's very important to understand you know the situation in new zealand and what we're dealing here is an unprecedented event for the country police in new zealand not on these events the shootings don't happen in new zealand as the do in the united states for instance so what sort of response can we expect after this from the authorities and from the public. absolutely you are quite correct new zealand is just not used to seeing. at the moment of course they will be on high alert and they are all. responses have responded across the country focusing on the region so it's two way street really i

suppose for many people it will be reassuring for others it will be a reminder that this could still be a situation that develops and one that we are still uncertain of the most of all where this will end interesting me during his news conference the police commissioner was asked whether he would describe this as a terrorist attack and he didn't see whether he would is that likely to change. what we know from the reports we have put out by the men purporting to be the gunmen before he went on this attack he certainly has described his actions or his planned actions at that time as being a tech because we are so unused to any situation like this in new zealand no doubt they're taking some precautions with the way in which they describe what has happened today and no doubt it will be a developing situation in which they look back and assess how this was handled what

warnings they were that how will these agencies respond and whether that would be considered a terror attack the prime minister was hitting back to wellington the softer tone she canceled the rest of her duties to meet with emergency response teams and try and work through just exactly what has happened and how they deal with this going forward you know as we speak and we're watching the latest pictures we have from outside of one of the mosque outside of. the scene of one of the attacks and the people gathered there trying to comfort each other as you said new zealand doesn't have a big muslim community you say about forty six thousand people you know tell us about the reactions and also had they been warnings is you know are hate crimes an issue in new zealand. well it's a tricky one to answer really because it wouldn't be fair to say that there is never a hate crime new zealand you know needs to own these sorts of situations there have

been crimes in the past that could be described as hate crimes but certainly nothing on a scale like this this is unprecedented an attack on a community that had no reason to expect anything like this should ever happen to them they came to new zealand for safety for peace and security quite often many of our muslim population might have come from as refugees to this country expecting that this would be a fresh new start in the safe life that they wanted and certainly today would say that was something they should have been able to expect and didn't get from our country and that they haven't been kipps but certainly from the people we've spoken to that one news has talked to that mosque a deeply distressing afternoon what should have been a peaceful prayer time for them turned into horrific scenes and that will take them many months many days to process what has happened to them and as we've heard from norman who we were speaking to earlier bangladesh's cricket team has escaped at this mosques shooting in christ church the players were reportedly on the bus which

was just pulling up to the mosque when the shooting began let's show you a tweet from one of the players on the bangladeshi team to mean it bob kahn who says the entire team got to see from an active shooter frightening experience and peace keeper in your prayers and this is the twitter page of the official twitter page of bangladesh's which also talks about the incident the team were on the bus again and was just pulling up to the main mosque in christchurch when the shootings began the bangladeshi cricket team was in christchurch to play new zealand in a third cricket test which was going to start on saturday but that has now been cancelled. here now once again is a witness who was outside the mosque and describe to us what happened tell us what you've been hearing he was whiting at the cordon on things evan you. heard this

stage i don't know where my wife is she was in the ladies' room. after the shooting i tried to go in there to see where there was no ladies in there. i don't know where the ladies were shot on not. the police. to quickly get out of the premises so i did so were you inside the mosque at the time of the shooting where were you the south and i was inside the mosque. i was in the side room. and. started the salmon. everybody was. it was very peaceful calm and quiet. usually it is in. talking everyone is quiet and it is a pin drop silence but then suddenly the shortest shooting started so it started in

the main room. the shooter must have come through the hallway and i was in the side room so i did not see who was shooting but. saw that some people were running out through my. through my room where i was in and also i saw some people had blood on the body in some people who were limping a dead woman you know i realized that it was really serious and you know a couple of people say to me that you were on who she could to get out so i tried to get. pushed the big where my car was parked in the behind the car in the. from there i was hearing there to a shooting after a shooting of the shooting it went on. six minute or more in. i could hear screaming and the crying and. saw

some people were in or drop dead. some people were running away i was in the room. could not go in also i didn't want to because i was afraid what was going to happen to the ladies what was going to be going to a wife so i stayed there were like really short he did his a massacre inside the mosque in he didn't come in the wake of the ways he could have got me. that is an absolutely terrifying account i'm so sorry for everything that you've gone through this afternoon thank you so much for. for your sympathy so what have police been telling you here on the court and about the family that inside the mosque we're getting information about what's happening must be terrifying about what happened you know when some stayed in after about ten minutes

i was still in the back in the when i thought that probably the shorter has left then i pushed myself to get inside the mosque in it was unbelievable i saw in the main the room on the right inside there were twenty plus people some of them were dead some of them were screaming on the left hand side. ten plus people some of them were day in some of them were screaming in there asking me is there any ambulance and the way i said you know be patient in ice so on the flu the bullet shells so many hundreds hundreds of in then. you know on one. maybe a guy was trying to. run out and he was shot he was there the. from the whole. to the room a guy was trying to come in that room and he was shot from the back he was there

the. guy who was you know probably trying to get into the ladies room in his this did where is there. anything in the big also. a couple of people were drop dead in there. police came and told me. to get out in. the graded me to come. in and. so while all this was happening you were whiting in a back room in a wheelchair these terrible sounds and things. being so frightening. i was not in the back room i was you know. most in the in the car just behind make my car was in. here it was. frightening but. my feeling was there weren't you

know what would have been would have been i was not frightened were really worried about what was happening to other people thank you so much for your account i really appreciate everything that you're told us and we're glad to hear it or formations a frightening experience for a lucky escape for that man who was in a wheelchair outside the are no mosque in christ church when a gunman entered it and opened fire on the worshippers who were gathered there for friday paying friday prayers say incident happened at one forty pm local time and there was later another shooting at another mosque in christ church two attacks we chose. shaken a country which has very little history of mass shootings and the prime minister calling it in fact an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence.

some of the shootings were pattni streamed on facebook as we've been reporting which has raised questions of course about the ability of tech companies like facebook to block fine and content police in they are their statement a short while ago the police chief said that four people had been arrested including three men and one woman he is a police chief mike bush giving details of the best case. for are in custody three a man and one a woman one is a woman as i understand it. it's moving quite quickly so i need to try and that and that way that that's what we believe at this moment we know anything. about whether or. not conclusively we're working our way through that as well can you present crisis that you're. still working at the circumstances that

surround it. that is doesn't get any more serious in this country there is that there are going to have certainly will i have same social media footage it's very disturbing but shouldn't be in the public domain and we're doing everything we can to remove them out to do after he takes us there was. the attackers were apprehended by local police has been some absolute acts of bribery on the hugely proud police staff the way they responded to this. but let's not presume that the danger has gone so we want to make sure that we are right across the community where is visible and equipped as we need today to make that happen there were reports of the cargo can tell us. yes i can tell you that there were a number of days attached to vehicles that we also stopped by even my safe by the defense force but that does go to the seriousness of the situation right now is

that it is a risk to your life most of. that person has been made safe we're still working through that we have the laves there was a crime but there person is absolutely smashed it indication that in my view it's not a you know i can't confirm that i can confirm that we have to have a risk to people i want to assume there are others but i don't have information to that effect to the people who have been tampered. with i know because i can't go into their detail that detail will unfold in the next few days that's all i can say this stage but i'm absolutely conscious that the public need to be informed keep to formulas we have to my left a host of communications staff who will make that happen but as you can imagine we have so many operational stuff that absolutely committed to this operation associates police is going to be out and has been instructed to be out of the reach

out we while watching the same now of course will have access. to the equipment they need to keep themselves in the community saif this is outside close to being out of school yes we're not assuming that this is contained across church we have no other information to suggest it is but at this point in time we should never make assumptions that was the police commissioner of new zealand mike bush making a statement a short while ago and we now have the first pictures of one of the suspects being arrested after those two attacks in christchurch as you can see in the spring up to the con raising that. the trunk of the car is open. and then a man is slowly dragged out put on the floor and handcuffed is what it looks like some pretty dramatic pictures which were of belief

filmed by a witness there and the first pictures of the. arrests of one of the suspects in that shooting and we're also hearing just now that facebook has removed the graphic video believed to show the mosque shooting allegedly the one that allegedly it's been confirmed in fact that one of the suspects was wearing a helmet with a camera on it and live streamed the shooting at the nor mosque when he entered the mosque and sat it shooting people off facebook just now removed that video from its web site if you're just joining us on al-jazeera we're covering breaking news out of new zealand where it's now six forty pm police saying that four people have been arrested three men three men rather and one woman after shootings in two mosques in christchurch multiple faced a fatal disease and casualties reported but police not confirming the numbers yet the government orchestrated what appears to be a coordinated

a time during friday prayers witnesses describe seeing a man entering the honor mosque in central christchurch where the first attack happened two hundred people were believed to be inside the mosque at the time police say there was then a second shooting at the lynwood mosque a short drive away from the first small ask now the international reactions as you can imagine have been coming in because this is an unprecedented incident for new zealand australia's prime minister scott morrison tweeted a short while ago saying i'm horrified by the reports some following a serious situation in christchurch new zealand the situation is still unfolding but our thoughts and prayers are with. cousins well the situation still unfolding but the lockdown on schools in christchurch has now been lifted new zealand's prime minister just into our journey is heading now to wellington for a security intelligence briefing and she held

a news conference earlier describing the attack as one of the country's darkest days. the police will be giving more details as they can is the situation unfolds whilst i cannot give any confirmation at this stage around fatalities in case your t. s. what i can say is that it is clear that this is one of new zealand's darkest days. clearly what has happened here is an extraordinary and unprecedented ect of violence many of those who will have been directly affected by this shooting may be migrants to new zealand they may even be refuting is here they have chosen to make new sealing their home and it is their home they are us the person who has good pitch why did this violence against us is not they have no place in new zealand it

is not a place in new zealand for such acts of extreme and unprecedented violence which is it is clear this was for now my thoughts and i'm sure the thoughts of all new zealanders with those who have being affected and also with the families my thoughts also to those in christchurch who are still dealing with an unfolding situation the advice from police continues to be that people remain indoors i had knowledge that they may mean that some families are separated but please continue to listen out for information as it comes to light that's been directly provided by the new zealand place with food information but as i say they remain in lockdown we are potentially still dealing with an evolving situation and again as i say across multiple sites please be assured that the police actively managing the situation christchurch hospital is dedicated to treating those who are arriving at the

hospital as we speak as well it's. as i leave here i will be returning directly i can your flight to wellington i didn't see so already convening in wellington are we looking to meet with them as soon as i land it's my expectation that once i arrive and have been briefed i intend to speak again publicly after that point or the streets down on christchurch schools has been lifted since the prime minister made that statement four people have been arrested since she made that statement as well three men and one woman rest said the situation however still unclear as far as what's happening at the mosque the crime scenes a lot of people on social media a lot of the victims saying that they haven't heard from loved ones yet and still waiting to hear news of their loved ones one survivor of the attacks describes what

happened he has. given. one forty two. and. i don't know. i just. don't know if. people in this cross so i could be alive but you know i was allowed to come out of the most of the. now so far police as we said have arrested four people in this attack in connection with the attack at these two mosques in christchurch three men and one woman now in a social media post before the attack an account that is believed to believe it to be but that is believed rather to be one of the suspects had a link to it within eighty seven page manifesto reportedly that was filled with

anti immigrant in on time muslim ideas and explanations for the attack his motivations the suspect this hasn't been confirmed by police yet but it is circulating out there and dials yale is the mayor of christchurch and she also spoke about the situation earlier. shot by shot two or so they say his things vary so much already and. it is. just it's just you know i'm i'm shocked beyond where is it i cannot think of the right words to say i do want for people from reassurance which the police are doing everything that they can on fully confident of out there and the fishing as we gave them a shot under control and as soon as they are under the russian to say that they have got the leisure under control then we will be i would say in a lockdown of half for safety.