Sky Tower lit tonight in solidarity with the Iraqi community

Auckland’s Sky Tower will be lit in the colours of the Iraqi flag tonight - red, white and black - in solidarity with the Iraqi community, who are holding a vigil at Mission Bay to honour those who lost their lives in the recent bombing tragedy in Baghdad.

SKYCITY Auckland Acting General Manager Matt Ballesty says SKYCITY is a diverse business that has underlying values of equality, respect and love, and it is proud to be able to support the Iraqi community through lighting the Sky Tower tonight.

“We have many people in our Iraqi community who are hurting and are deeply impacted by this tragedy, and this is a small way that we can express our love and solidarity for this community,’’ Mr Ballesty says.

“The Sky Tower is an iconic structure that Aucklanders love.  We light it for many different reasons including marking national holidays, in support of charity, and to show our solidarity and support with other world landmarks following certain global events.

“The Sky Tower can never reflect all the disasters or all the tragedy in the world, nor all the celebrations. But we do our best to help mark key moments in time that the public wish to show their support for and we are pleased to be lighting it this evening whilst the vigil is taking place,” he says.

“On Friday the Sky Tower will switch to rainbow lighting to mark the 30th anniversary of the Homosexual Reform Bill – a celebration of the values we all as New Zealanders fight for.’’