Flowers left behind in tribute for the Christchurch terror attack will be mulched and used in local gardens.
Thousands of the flowers were left along a wall near the Christchurch Botanic Gardens in memorial to the fifty people killed when an alleged gunman opened fire inside the Deans Ave and Linwood Ave mosques on Friday, March 15.
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But those flowers will begin to rot soon, threatening to turn a show of unity into a depressing eyesore.
Mayor Lianne Dalziel told The AM Show the council is still deciding what to do, but the flowers will be destroyed.
"We've still got to work through all of this with the local Muslim community, but [the flowers] will be mulched for using as giving life to our gardens and perhaps some of the mosques' gardens and community gardens around the place.
"But we will be working with the local community to make sure that we get that right."
All the other items left at the wall will be collected and archived so the council has a copy of them for the future.
"All of the little toys, the gifts, the stones, the rocks, everything that people have brought that has that tangible ongoing life, they will all be washed and preserved," Dalziel said.
Other tributes have been laid across the country for the people killed in the attack, mostly centred on local mosques. A GiveaLittle page set up for the attack has received $9 million in donations.
A national memorial will be held in Christchurch's Hagley Park on Friday at 10am. It will be livestreamed across the country.
Newshub.
