AROUND 1,000 people attended a prayer vigil at the Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking in honour of the 50 people shot dead at two mosques in New Zealand.

They included dignitaries led by Phillip Hammond, the Chancellor and MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, Michael More-Molyneux, the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, David Munro, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey, and Jonathan Lord, the Woking MP.

Christians, Jews and Hindus and senior figures from those faiths were in attendance. They included Rabbi Kath Vardi of the North West Surrey Synagogue, Father Peter Andrews from St Dunstan’s Church, Syed Naqvi, chairman of the Surrey Muslim Association, the Rev Nick Hutchinson, of St Paul’s Church, Woking, and Simon Trick, chairman of Woking People of Faith.

Mohammed Habib, the mosque manager, said it was reassuring to see so many people come together.

“It shows that love, peace and humanity are more powerful than hatred and bigotry,” Mohammed said.

Fifty prayer mats were laid out in front of the mosque in memory of those killed in Christchurch.

Mohammed said the fact that people had come together over the massacre in Woking and around the world showed whatever the killer had intended to happen had failed.

He said the vigil on Saturday was a fantastic event.

For the full story get the 28 March edition of the News & Mail