Christchurch, Newzealand/ Agencies: In an act of solidarity, members of rival New Zealand gangs united together to perform the traditional Maori haka in front of one of the Christchurch mosques attacked by a terrorist to honour the victims of last week's mass shootings in Christchurch. While they are usually rivals, members of the Black Power, Bandidos, and Mongrel Mob street gangs performed the haka outside Al Noor mosque, where most of the 50 victims were shot down by a gunman during prayers last week.
Small Muslim groups bravely held several evening prayers earlier this week in front of the Al Noor mosque, the first of two to be attacked. However, they had had on this instance.
Following last week's attacks, the traditional dance has become a regular occurrence, from schoolchildren to bikers. But the haka conducted by the biker gang was one of the largest yet. The dance also saw many bikers wear the patches of the clubs while reaching the mosque on guttural choppers.
"We are here because love is greater than hate, that's the theme. We are here tonight for our Muslim whanau," Derek Tait, a biker and pastor clad in black leather, said. "It should be from here forward that we make a stand against any hate at all," he added.
Jacob Leo Skilling, another biker present in the public, wore a freshly inked tattoo on his left calf, which showed the face of a Muslim woman wearing a face veil with the words "They are us" written above and a dove.
"At the end of the day, we're all one race," he said. "Regardless of religion, colour, black, white, it doesn't matter, we're all human beings, we all bleed the same."