NZ bullet-riddled mosques open, many 'march for love'

Smelling of fresh paint, the two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch where a gunman killed 50 worshippers last week reopened their doors on Saturday, with many survivors among the first to walk in and pray for those who died, report agencies.

At the Al Noor mosque, where more than 40 of the victims were killed by a suspected white supremacist, prayers resumed with armed police on site, but no graphic reminders of the mass shooting, New Zealand's worst.

Aden Diriye, who lost his 3-year-old son, Mucad Ibrahim, in the attack, came back to the mosque with his friends.

"I am very happy," he said after praying. "Allah is great to us. I was back as soon as we rebuilt, to pray."

Most victims of the shooting, which New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern quickly denounced as a terrorist attack, were migrants or refugees and their deaths reverberated around the Islamic world.

Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, who visited the Al Noor mosque, said the attack assailed human dignity.

"This is a moment of deep anguish for all of us, all of humanity," he said.

Police said they were reopening the nearby Linwood mosque, the second to be attacked during Friday prayers last week, as well.

New Zealand has been under heightened security alert since the attack with Ardern moving quickly with a new tough law banning some of the guns used in the March 15 shooting.

Ashif Shaikh, who was in the Al Noor mosque on the day of the massacre in which two of his housemates were killed and who came back on Saturday, said he would not be deterred.

"It is the place where we pray, where we meet, we'll be back, yeah," he said.

Earlier on Saturday, about 3,000 people walked through Christchurch in a "march for love" as the city seeks to heal from its tragedy.

Carrying placards with signs such as "He wanted to divide us, he only made us stronger", "Muslims welcome, racists not", and "Kia Kaha" - Maori for 'stay strong', people walked mostly in silence or softly sang a Maori hymn of peace.

"We feel like hate has brought a lot of darkness at times like this and love is the strongest cure to light the city out of that darkness," said Manaia Butler, 16, one of the student organizers of the march.

Meanwhile, a giant image of a grieving Jacinda Ardern was beamed out from the world's tallest building on Friday, a tribute from Dubai for the New Zealand Prime Minister's high-profile support for Muslims after a terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques.

Featured on the 829m-tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the image of Ms Ardern donning a headscarf and embracing a woman at the Kilbirnie mosque in Wellington was accompanied by the Arabic word "salam", or peace, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

An image of the building was tweeted by Sheik Mohammed, Prime Minister and Vice-President of the UAE, and ruler of the emirate of Dubai.

"New Zealand today fell silent in honour of the mosque attacks' martyrs. Thank you PM Jacinda Ardern and New Zealand for your sincere empathy and support that has won the respect of 1.5 billion Muslims after the terrorist attack that shook the Muslim community around the world," Sheik Mohammed wrote.

Ms Ardern and New Zealand have been widely praised for the outpouring of empathy and unity and their response to the twin mosque attack.