New Zealand bans terror suspect's racist manifesto; citizens told to 'destroy any copies'
New Zealand's government on Saturday banned a racist, angry manifesto written by the suspected gunman of two recent mosque shootings in Christchurch that killed 50 people, arguing that the 74-page document "promotes murder and terrorism."
New Zealand's Office of Film and Literature Classification issued a statement officially classifying the manifesto – titled "The Great Replacement" and authored by the alleged 28-year-old shooter – "objectionable" under the country's law.
“There is an important distinction to be made between ‘hate speech’, which may be rejected by many right-thinking people but which is legal to express, and this type of publication, which is deliberately constructed to inspire further murder and terrorism," New Zealand's Chief Censor David Shanks said in a statement.