Police Commissioner Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho

The Police Commissioner has directed an immediate investigation into hate speech circulated on social media following the Christchurch massacre.

Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho has today instructed Director for Criminal Investigations Department – SSP Seru Neioko and Chief of Intelligence and Investigation – ACP Vakacegu Toduadua to look into this.

This comes after a vast number of people both with fake and real accounts published, commented and shared posts instigating attacks on a person or a group on the basis of attributes such as race and religion.

The Police Chief says this is very worrying and they will be taking people to task.

“We can’t allow this type of hate speech and rhetoric to continue. It is very worrying for us to see the amount of hatred being propagated and it’s evident that some of the people making these statements are not fully aware of the circumstances surrounding what has happened or transpired.”

Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho has at the same time assured the Muslim community in Fiji as well as visitors that they’re safe.

“There’s nothing to worry about. We work closely with our neighbouring countries and with organizations to keep track of people and I have also given out clear directives that we need to be more vigilant in these type of issues and one of them is addressing the hate speech that’s going on social media.”

The Police Commissioner says while no formal reports have been made against social media posting, they’re taking a proactive approach to investigate and find out the culprits behind these acts.