New Zealand attack - live updates: Suspected gunman appears in court as Prime Minister Ardern promises ‘gun laws will change’

Iran's foreign minister has claimed bigotry in Western countries led to the attacks on Muslims in New Zealand. 

In a tweet Mohammad Javad Zarif said: "Impunity in Western 'democracies' to promote bigotry leads to this." 

The Iranian foreign minister said the West had "defended demonisation of Muslims as 'freedom of expression"' and demanded it end. 

Sajid Javid, the home secretary, has called on Youtube, Google, Facebook and Twitter to do more to stop extremism on their sites.

This follows Downing Street's demand that UK news and media companies remove from their websites footage of the Christchurch attack.

And it comes after social media networks scrambled to stop people sharing an “extremely distressing” video filmed by the suspect.

It is now the middle of the night in New Zealand (they are 13 hours ahead of the UK - GMT), and police updates have slowed down, so here is a description of how the attack unfolded, as provided by the Reuters news agency:

The online footage, which appeared to have been captured on a camera strapped to a gunman's head, showed him driving as music played in his vehicle. After parking, he took two guns and walked a short distance to the mosque where he opened fire.

Over the course of five minutes, he repeatedly shot worshippers, leaving more than a dozen bodies in one room alone. He returned to the car during that period to change guns, and went back to the mosque to shoot anyone showing signs of life.

One man, with blood still on his shirt, said in a television interview that he hid from a gunman under a bench and prayed that he would run out of bullets.

"I was just praying to God and hoping our God, please, let this guy stop" Mahmood Nazeer told TVNZ.

"The firing went on and on. One person with us had a bullet in her arm. When the firing stopped, I looked over the fence, there was one guy, changing his gun."

The video shows the gunman then driving off at high speed and firing from his car. Another video, taken by someone else, showed police apprehending a gunman on a pavement by a road.

Police said improvised explosive devices were found. The gunman's video had shown red petrol canisters in the back of his car, along with weapons.

Meanwhile, here in London, the government has announced that flags on Downing Street and Foreign Office Buildings will be flown at half mast on Friday as a mark of respect to those who lost their lives and all others that were affected by the attacks in New Zealand.

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Yvette Cooper, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said the existence of footage from the attack on social media hours later showed the big sites "haven’t got a grip" on the problem.

"For the sick video live-streamed by the perpetrator still to be available on YouTube and Facebook hours later is shocking," she said.

"Social media companies have an obligation to remove this kind of content from their platforms immediately, and they are big enough and rich enough to work out how to do it. They have been warned repeatedly about this kind of problem. 

"They have developed new systems to start dealing with Islamist extremism but they are completely failing to take seriously far right extremism and terrorism.

“Time and time again social media companies have been too slow to act and it is not good enough.”

Amnesty International’s Secretary General called the shootings "one of the darkest days in New Zealand’s history".

Kumi Naidoo said: “The attackers who unleashed their deadly hatred and racism upon women, men, and children as they took part in Friday prayers has thrown us all into shock and grief.

“This is also a moment of reckoning for leaders across the world who have encouraged or turned a blind eye to the scourge of Islamophobia. 

"The politics of demonisation has today cost 49 people their lives. Reports that the attackers followed a white supremacist manifesto must galvanise world leaders to start standing against this hate-filled ideology."

A fundraiser for the victims of the shooting has raised more than 380,000 New Zealand dollars (£197,000) within hours of the tragedy.

Created by New Zealand charity Victim Support, the appeal had over 6,000 donors at 2am local time, after a press release was issued at around 9:40pm the previous night.

"All donations received through the fund will be ring-fenced to provide resources and support to those affected by this horrific event.

"Victim Support stands with everyone affected and with all communities in New Zealand today."