Christchurch mosque reopens after attacks as New Zealand 'marches for love'

Worshippers have visited a New Zealand mosque as it reopened for the first time after dozens of people died there in a mass shooting.

Hundreds of people stopped at the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch to lay flowers or pray after police removed a cordon and those running the mosque decided to reopen.

Inside the mosque, there were few signs of the carnage from eight days earlier.

Crews had replaced windows that worshippers smashed in a desperate attempt to escape when the attack during Friday prayers.

Shagat Khan, the president of the Muslim Association of Canterbury, said they had not planned to open the mosque so soon, but when they saw the crowds gathering after the police cordon was removed, they decided to allow people to enter so the mosque could be "alive again".

"Those who lost their families are of course quite emotional," he said.

"And those who were present here during the incident, of course the memories come back - the flashbacks," he added.

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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.

A total of 50 people were killed at two mosques in Christchurch on March 15, in the nation’s worst terrorist attack.

Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, has been charged with murder and is scheduled to make his next court appearance on April 5.

Abdullahi Ibrahim Diriye, the uncle of the youngest victim of the shooting, three-year-old Mucaad Ibrahim, visited the mosque with the boy’s father.

"Always he was a happy boy, and he liked every person he met, not only Muslims," Mr Diriye said.

Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, who travelled to New Zealand to pay his respects, hugged a man at the entrance of the mosque and told him to "be patient".

"He was crying deeply from his heart for a loved one he had lost," the prince later explained before adding: "And I was saying, this is God’s will, be patient. Because only through patience can you endure."

Prince Hassan said in the Middle East there have been wars every decade.

"To feel that this form of violence and cruelty is visited on you, living in this idyllic part of the world, is deeply, deeply moving," he said.

Officials say four Jordanian nationals died in the attack, while a four-year-old Jordanian girl is also recovering in an Auckland hospital.