Christchurch: As dusk approached on Monday, thousands of high school students gathered at Hagley Park near the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch for a vigil to mark unity in the face of hate, and the city's love for its Muslim community.

The event organiser, Okirano Tilaia, the head boy of Cashmere High School, told the students that their determination to respond to violence with love and the light of the candles would start a “ripple effect” to help heal the city.

Candles are lit by school children for the victims of Friday’s attacks on Christchurch mosques.Credit:Jason South

Cashmere is one of Christchurch’s larger state schools, with 2000 students. Its community is reeling from the loss of two current and one recent past student in Friday’s attacks, they were Sayyad Milne, 14, Hamza Mustafa, 16, and Tariq Omar.

Hamza’s younger brother, Zaid, is in hospital with gunshot wounds, his father was shot dead.

Tilaia’s friend Jared Gali, a year 11 student from the St Thomas Christian school, told the gathering that growing up in Christchurch kids had always known they were in a safe haven. That would not change, he said.

Thousands of school children gathered in a vigil for the victims of Friday’s attacks.Credit:Jason South

Speaking with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age before the vigil, Gali, a Seventh Day Adventist, said students from across the city were determined to lift up their “brothers and sisters” who had been attacked and let them know that “whatever difference in our skin or our religion we are one.”

Watching the event unfold, one of Tilaia’s teachers, Tom Wilkinson, said it was not just evidence of the extraordinary nature of the young students who arranged the event, but of a city that had rediscovered and reinforced its spirit in the wake of the 2011 earthquake, which killed 185 people.

The terrible impact of Friday’s massacre played out across Christchurch on Monday.

As the students prayed for the dead, police, Islamic community leaders and ground staff continued to prepare for burials expected in the coming days at Christchurch’s Memorial Park Cemetery.

Authorities are not only preparing for crowds, but also to ensure that the graves are dug in accordance with Muslim tradition.

Many of the children were from Cashmere High School.Credit:Jason South

Survivors of the attack and families of the victims have been growing increasingly distressed about the length of time it is taking authorities to release bodies of the dead, and by late afternoon on Monday hopes faded that burials might begin that day.

“I understand why [it is taking so long] but it hurts,” said Abdul Aziz, the man hailed as a hero after fighting off the killer during the attack on the Linwood Mosque.

Ali Jaffar, who survived that attack said waiting for the dead was draining for the entire community.

“I haven’t slept. When I go to the funeral and I bury them and I pray for them, then I can rest. We all feel that way. We are one family.”

I haven’t slept. When I go to the funeral and I bury them and I pray for them, then I can rest. We all feel that way. We are one family.

Throughout the day survivors, the bereaved and community leaders visited the wounded at Christchurch Hospital and met with authorities to discuss burial arrangements.

The Turkish deputy president and foreign minister also visited to offer support to families.

Outside the hosptial Aziz looks back at the attack, and the moments he charged outside and challenged the gunman unarmed as his sons sought to protect one another, and says he would do the same thing today.

"The Koran says that to save one life is to save all of the lives."

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