CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND/WELLINGTON ¨C Weeks before a gunman killed 50 Muslims in Christchurch, a man had threatened to burn copies of the Quran outside New Zealand mosques, in what community leaders said was the latest in a long list of threatening behavior against religious minorities.
Police said they warned a 38-year-old man over the incident, which was unrelated to the Christchurch attack, but could not say if it was part of a pattern.
That is because, unlike many Western countries including the United Kingdom and the United States, New Zealand¡¯s government keeps no comprehensive record of hate crimes, failing to act on requests to do so from local and international agencies spanning more than a decade.
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