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August 23, 2010
Protest and Counter-protest Mosque at Ground Zero
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Rallies over mosque near ground zero get heated
Hundreds of opponents of the victory mosque on Sunday chanted, sang patriotic songs and waved photographs of violent attacks by Islamic extremists.
Hundreds of impassioned demonstrators - all waving American flags, but separated into two groups by police - descended on the site of the proposed mosque near ground zero, with opponents chanting, "No mosque, no way!" and supporters shouting, "We say no to racist fear!"
The two leaders of the construction project, meanwhile, defended their plans on Sunday, though one suggested that organizers might eventually be willing to discuss an alternative site. The other, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, said during a Middle East trip that the attention generated by the project is actually positive and that he hopes it will bring greater understanding.
The rallies took place around the corner from the cordoned-off old building that is to become a 13-story Islamic community center and mosque. There were no reports of physical clashes but there were some nose-to-nose confrontations, including a man and a woman screaming at each other across a barricade under a steady rain.
Opponents of the $100 million project two blocks from the World Trade Center site appeared to outnumber supporters. Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" blared over loudspeakers as mosque opponents chanted, "No mosque, no way!"
Signs hoisted by dozens of protesters standing behind police barricades read "SHARIA" - using dripping, blood-red letters to describe Islam's Shariah law, which governs Muslims' behavior.
Steve Ayling, a 40-year-old Brooklyn plumber, said the people behind the mosque project are "the same people who took down the twin towers."
Opponents demand that the mosque be moved farther from the site where more than 2,700 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001. "They should put it in the Middle East," Ayling said.
On a nearby sidewalk, police chased away a group that unfurled a banner with images of beating, stoning and other torture they said was committed by those who followed Islamic law.
A mannequin wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional Arab headdress, was mounted on one of two mock missiles that were part of an anti-mosque installation. One missile was inscribed with the words: "Again? Freedom Targeted by Religion"; the other with "Obama: With a middle name Hussein. We understand. Bloomberg: What is your excuse?"
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has fiercely defended plans for the proposed mosque, saying that the right "to practice your religion was one of the real reasons America was founded."
The mosque project is being led by Rauf and his wife, Daisy Khan, who insist the center will promote moderate Islam. The dispute has sparked a national debate on religious freedom and American values and is becoming an issue on the campaign trail ahead of the midterm elections. Republicans have been critical of President Barack Obama's stance: He has said the Muslims have the right to build the center at the site but has not commented on whether he thinks they should.
Rauf is in the middle of a Mideast trip funded by the U.S. State Department that is intended to promote religious tolerance. He told a gathering Sunday at the U.S. ambassador's residence in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain that he took heart from the dispute over the mosque, saying "the fact we are getting this kind of attention is a sign of success."
"It is my hope that people will understand more," Rauf said without elaborating.
Democratic New York Gov. David Paterson has suggested that state land farther from ground zero be used for the center. Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, expressed some openness to that idea on ABC's "This Week with Christiane Amanpour," but said she would have to meet with the center's other "stakeholders" first.
"We want to build bridges," Khan said. "We don't want to create conflict, this is not where we were coming from."
But Khan also said the angry reaction to the project "is like a metastasized anti-Semitism."
At the pro-mosque rally, staged a block away from opponents' demonstration, several hundred people chanted, "Muslims are welcome here! We say no to racist fear!"
Dr. Ali Akram, a 39-year-old Brooklyn physician, came with his three sons and an 11-year-old nephew waving an American flag. He noted that scores of Muslims were among those who died in the towers, and he called those who oppose the mosque "un-American."
"They teach their children about the freedom of religion in America - but they don't practice what they preach," Akram said.
Rauf, in an interview with Bahrain's Al Wasat newspaper, said America's sweeping constitutional rights are more in line with Islamic principles than the limits imposed by some Muslim nations.
"American Muslims have the right to practice their religion in accordance with the Constitution of the United States," Rauf said. "I see the article of independence as more compliant with the principles of Islam than what is available in many of the current Muslim countries."
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Andy Sullivan: Building Islamic Center is the "Second Wave" of 9/11 Attacks
“It’s the soldiers that are dying right now – those are the heros; those are the patriots. I’m just some kid from Brooklyn who got fed up.”
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Wild Thing's comment.......
“supporters shouting, “Say no to racist fear!”
Is this a joke??? Muslims are a race now? FEAR ??? that is a laugh!!
Posted by Wild Thing at August 23, 2010 04:55 AM
Comments
Islam needs to be destroyed. It is an incurable disease and is spreading like locusts. They must be stopped now.
Posted by: cuchieddie(Enemy of the State) at August 23, 2010 08:17 AM
This mosque is an in your face item by the moslems. I am glad that there was a demonstration against it. My hope is that it never gets built.
Posted by: TomR, armed in Texas at August 23, 2010 11:39 AM
Maybe we should ask them why are they conceding victory to the muslim's. Have they forgotten what happened 9 years ago?
Or
is this really an in you face to George W. Bush. It all seems very political and that's a shame it dirties the memories of the 3000 dead from the attack and the Service members who gave up their lives for this country. But we are the racists. That's cheap a trick to change the subject because all they have left is name calling.
Posted by: Mark at August 23, 2010 11:51 AM
Cuchieddie, I wish we would do that, there is nothing good about the Islam death cult. I wish too there would be an outrage arcoss our land demanding to close all mosques, not allow any more to be built, close all Islamic schools etc. Let the world know that the USA is not going to cater to Islam in any way.
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 23, 2010 05:34 PM
Tom, me too, nothing good will come of this mosque if it is allowed to happen there.
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 23, 2010 05:36 PM
Mark, good one! Your right the left is making this political and then they turn around and accuse us of doing that.
I think too they have forgotten. I would and will say that to anyone that says it is OK to build this mosque there. I will ask the person. so I guess you have stopped caring about the DEAD 3,000.....D E A D or are you on thier side and glad it happened. I have zero patience for the left anymore. zero
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 23, 2010 05:41 PM
At times I too think that the thing to do is castrate Any Muslim convicted of a chime. Then I ease back to vasectomy Then if they would just exiled for shop lifting.
We have been very Godot shooting the people who actually planed this war. I fear that the war is not chaos enough to make the elites avoid war.
Posted by: Avitar at August 23, 2010 11:59 PM
