Stop the War Coalition condemns the appalling attacks on people praying in mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand and sends deepest condolences to all involved.

This attack appears to have been carried out by extreme right terrorists, who acted in the most brutal and depraved way against their victims.

We have consistently campaigned against Islamophobia, which is the major from of racism in the world today, and which has been fuelled by the wars on Muslim countries initiated by Bush and Blair. We argued back in 2001 that if you attack mainly Muslim countries then you have to demonise the inhabitants of those countries. This is exactly what has happened. Those fleeing these wars as refugees have also been demonised and scapegoated, with the predictable consequence of the rise in racism.