Extra security measures are being taken at mosques in the Netherlands in reaction to the shootings in New Zealand which left at least 49 people dead.

Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema said the steps had been taken ‘on the basis of sensitivities in society rather than concrete threats’. Halsema and the mayors of The Hague and Rotterdam are visiting mosques on Friday afternoon, broadcaster NOS said.

In Utrecht, a police car has been stationed outside the Islamic Cultural Centre which has been closed as a precaution and will only open during afternoon and evening prayers.

Justice minister Ferd Grapperhaus said that the Dutch counter terrorism unit is in constant touch with mosque authorities. ‘We are continuously alert to the risks, both at mosques and at synagogues,’ he said.

The Dutch Council of Moroccan Mosques issued a statement on Friday saying that the murders in New Zealand are a terrible and unprecedented deed.

‘We are hearing a lot of disorientated reactions and some panic,’ spokesman Said Bouharrou said.