More than 150 people took part in a candlelight vigil in Dunedin yesterday, with several speakers strongly supporting Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull's call for a refugee resettlement centre to be established in the city.
Speakers, including Kati Huirapa runanga upoko David Ellison, emphasised the need to provide a compassionate welcome for Syrian refugees.
Other speakers said momentum was building towards accepting more refugees in New Zealand and Dunedin. If New Zealand was to hold its head high internationally, it needed to accept more refugees, given the biggest refugee crisis since World War 2, they said.
Yesterday's 5.15pm gathering was organised by a recently formed Dunedin-Welcomes-Refugees group ‘‘to show solidarity with refugees'', and to consider how Dunedin could respond to the ‘‘extraordinary refugee crisis''.
Undaunted by chilly winds and drifting rain, many members of the public, including youngsters holding candles, crowded in to hear speakers in the upper Octagon.
Mr Cull's call on Thursday for the Government to consider establishing a refugee resettlement centre in Dunedin came amid growing concern at the plight of Syrian refugees making their way into Europe.
The New Zealand Government has responded by saying it will accept 600 more Syrian refugees over the next three years, on top of New Zealand's refugee quota.
One of the speakers, Dunedin South Labour MP Clare Curran, said that accepting more refugees was the right step on humanitarian grounds, but would also provide ‘‘win/win'' gains for Dunedin, which would benefit from having additional well-educated and committed citizens.
Dunedin-based Green list MP and Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said that although some refugees from Syria would now be accepted here, the overall refugee quota remained ‘‘miserable'' and needed to be doubled and redoubled.
Ms Turei supported Mr Cull's call for a resettlement centre for the city, saying ‘‘fantastic, Dave''.
She also urged a compassionate and ‘‘loving'' response, and the need to ‘‘keep dispelling the myths'' about refugees, who were good family people who had been forced to leave their homes by brutal military action.
Appearing on behalf of the Dunedin City Council, Cr Richard Thomson also urged the need for compassion in the face of violence, otherwise ‘‘the tide of inhumanity will triumph''.
He praised the caring approach shown by Dunedin people in attending the gathering, and not being discouraged by the cold weather.
The city had also previously shown its compassion in providing a home for people from several other lands, including from Vietnam, Cambodia and Poland, he said.
