For decades, Christchurch has also been the center of the country’s small but persistent white supremacist movement. Possible links between the shooter and white supremacists in New Zealand’s south have been alleged by recreational gun user and hunting guide Pete Breidahl. Spoonley estimates there are 200-250 hardcore white supremacists in New Zealand and about 300-400 people on the edges. He attributes three murders in New Zealand since 1989 to white supremacists, including two that were ideologically motivated — a South Korean tourist in 2003 and a homeless gay man in 1999. There was no political advantage in targeting alienated young white men seen by the wider population as mostly harmless “Pakeha losers,” a Maori word for white New Zealanders, Buchanan said.

Source: Huffington Post March 19, 2019 12:50 UTC