A quarter of a century after the attack, the victims' families do not want Mamdani to be at the official commemoration event due to his ties to Islamic terrorism
A group of family members of victims of the September 11 attacks gathered this Tuesday at City Hall to personally deliver to the communist mayor Zohran Mamdani a document signed by hundreds of thousands of people asking him to not attend the commemorative ceremonies for the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
In particular, the relatives requested that Mamdani not be present at the event on Friday at the National September 11 Memorial, where the names of the 2,983 victims of the attacks will be read aloud.
"It's not about his religion or his place of origin. It's about the policies he defends today", said Cheri Sparacio about Mamdani and his presence at the tributes, remembering her husband, Tom Sparacio, who died that September 11.
Mamdani has a star advisor who is a defender of an Al-Qaeda terrorist.
Mamdani hired as his chief advisor Ramzi Kassem, who in 2014 represented an Al Qaeda terrorist who was detained at Guantanamo Bay. "It's today that he hires people like Ramzi Kassem... That's what we oppose," Sparacio added.
This group of family members started a petition in July on the platform Change.org asking Mamdani not to attend any of the commemorative events for the attack. The initiative, created by Giovanni Galante —who lost his wife, Grace Catherine Galante, in the attacks— gathered over 100,000 signatures and was delivered today at the location where the Ugandan-born politician works.
"I don't understand why he is being so inflexible about this, when all we ask is for him to respect us from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.", expressed Mónica Iken, who lost her husband Michael Patrick Iken in the terrorist attack. Despite the relatives' request, Mamdani confirmed that he will attend the commemorative event on Friday and other tributes planned for this week.
The relatives of the victims gathered today to deliver the request to Mamdani
