USA: Supporters and opponents of proposed Muslim cultural center and mosque near the World Trade Center site ralliy in downtown Manhattan

Record ID: 320889

  • Title: USA: Supporters and opponents of proposed Muslim cultural center and mosque near the World Trade Center site ralliy in downtown Manhattan
  • Date: 23rd August 2010
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTESTER IEMAN ELZOGHBY SAYING: "There really is nothing to worry about. The kind of Muslims that will be going to this mosque, which basically is just two floors, the rest is all community center, are very much not the kind of Muslims they need to worry about. Those are very different and we are very ordinary Americans." (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTE
  • Embargoed: 7th September 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVAAAT24YAZK2UDQE8KS37JYDLB9
  • Story Text: Protesters opposed to the building of a Muslim center near ground zero rally against the proposed project while hundreds of supporters demonstrate a few blocks away.
    Supporters and opponents of a proposed Muslim cultural center and mosque near the World Trade Center site rallied in downtown Manhattan on Sunday (August 22), kept blocks apart by a heavy police presence.
    The emotionally charged dispute has taken on national political significance, with Republicans using the issue to attack President Barack Obama ahead of midterm elections where his Democrats are fighting to retain control of Congress.
    The rallies were held near the location of the proposed Muslim center, just two blocks from the site of the September 11, 2001 attacks by al Qaeda, which destroyed the World Trade Center towers and killed close to 3,000 people.
    The center, which would include a prayer room, has ignited fierce debate between those who say its proposed location is insensitive and fear it will harbor religious extremism and those who back it based on the principle of religious tolerance and understanding.
    Hundreds of opponents chanted "No Mosque," sang patriotic songs and waved photographs of violent attacks by Islamic extremists.
    Protester Wanda Torres works a few blocks away from Ground Zero and said she was there in 2001 when the World Trade Center was attacked.
    "America needs to man up right about now. We're bowing to Muslims that want to kill us, that hate us," Torres said.
    Protester John Cartier said attending the rally was a chance to give his brother James, who was killed in Tower Two on September 11th, a voice in the debate.
    "I don't believe that every Muslim is a terrorist but I do know that every Muslim that was on the planes that killed my brother was a Muslim. And I don't feel that it is morally right or ethically right to put a mosque here where my brother was killed," Cartier said.
    A man who stood chanting fervently in the crowd declined to give his name citing fear that he might be retaliated against in his home country, which he also declined to identify.
    "When they the terrorists they come over here and they tear down the World Trade Center, 3,000 people they get killed by the Muslim people. Three thousand people they get killed by the Muslim people, don't forget them."
    Around the corner, supporters of the center chanted: "We don't care what bigots say, religious freedom is here to stay."
    Among them was Ieman Elzoghby, a New York teacher, who said, "There really is nothing to worry about. The kind of Muslims that will be going to this mosque, which basically is just two floors, the rest is all community center, are very much not the kind of Muslims they need to worry about. Those are very different and we are very ordinary Americans."
    Protester Benjamin Silverman said he helped organize the rally supporting the center.
    "We want to stand for the right of individuals to practice their religion where they choose and we want to stand against what is becoming a climate of fear, hatred and Islamophobia," Silverman said.
    While tempers were heated, there were no signs of violence between the two sides, which were kept several blocks apart by police.
    Obama has said he supports the right of Muslims to build the center near Ground Zero, while Republicans, including former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, oppose it.
    As the debate continues a new Pew Research poll finds that nearly one-in-five Americans - 18 percent- now mistakenly say Obama is a Muslim. That figure is up from 11 percent in March, 2009.
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