The third and final episode of the intense BBC documentary series In The Face Of Terror will air tonight on ABC with a focus on the 2019 Christchurch Terror Attack.
On 15 March 2019, an anonymous user posts a message on the internet stating that they intend to carry out an attack ‘against the invaders’ and will live-stream the attack via Facebook.
The post is written by Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian living in New Zealand. After uploading the message, he turns on his body-worn camera and drives to the Al-Noor mosque in Christchurch, where he opens fire on worshippers.
The live-streaming of an attack heralds a new era of terrorism and confirms the far right as the world’s fastest-growing terror threat.
A week later, Christchurch’s small Muslim community are still in shock. Giving the final blessing to one of the victims is former Imam Farid Ahmed, who survived the shooting. He had separated from his wife Husna as they went to different parts of the mosque to pray.
When the shooting started, he escaped. When it was over, he went searching for his wife, only to learn that she had rescued many people but was killed as she returned to the mosque to look for him.
At Linwood, the city’s second mosque, survivor Abdul Aziz describes how he was praying when a fellow worshipper was shot through a window, and he ran outside to confront the attacker.
He found a weapon and chased Tarrant back to his car, throwing the gun at him as he fled. The police gave chase and rammed Tarrant’s car, arresting him by the side of the road.
In London, Jacob Davey is a far-right analyst working at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
He recalls hearing of the shooting and rushing to monitor the digital footprint of the attack. He could see millions were watching the video in dark corners of the web. Facebook themselves blocked or took down 1.5 million uploads of the video.
