New York is holding a memorial ceremony Friday (September 11) marking the 25th anniversary of the devastating September 11, 2001 attacks. The event has drawn attention over the absence of US President Donald Trump and the presence of the city’s first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, sparking anger among right-wing figures.
Rather than attend the New York ceremony, Trump will pay tribute to those killed at the Pentagon, another target of the 2001 attacks. In that attack, hijacked planes destroyed the World Trade Center in New York, killing a total of 2,977 people.
Four of Trump’s living predecessors are expected to attend the memorial ceremony at New York’s “Ground Zero” — Republican George W. Bush, who was president at the time of the attacks, along with Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton — as well as current Vice President JD Vance.
No one will deliver a speech at the event. Relatives of the victims will read out, one by one, the names of everyone killed in the attacks. Bells will also be rung to mark key moments of the attacks.
Robert Kafka, a Chicago resident in his sixties visiting the 9/11 Memorial, said: “Memorials like this and discussions about these events are important. They help keep the events in memory and build understanding of how to ensure such tragedies never happen again in the future.”
Alongside the former presidents, New York’s Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani will also attend the event. He is the city’s first Muslim mayor.
However, a campaign led by the right-wing New York Post and former mayor Rudy Giuliani called on Mamdani to stay away from the memorial event.
A petition has gathered more than 100,000 signatures, alleging that Mamdani is associated with individuals who disrespect American institutions or fail to sufficiently criticise extremist ideology.
City council member Shahana Hanif told CNN: “It’s concerning to me that the mayor is being treated differently simply because he is Muslim.”
Mamdani has recently won praise for releasing thousands of documents on what city authorities knew about air toxicity in Lower Manhattan after the attacks.
Besides the massive dust cloud that formed when the World Trade Center collapsed, pollution and dust lingered in the area for months afterward. Thousands of New Yorkers still suffer from various illnesses caused by the exposure.
Mamdani said Tuesday: “People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied to them, telling them it was safe to breathe that toxic air.”
On that nearly cloudless day in 2001, 19 al-Qaeda members hijacked four planes. Two of them struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, causing the 110-storey buildings to collapse.
The third plane struck the Pentagon in Washington. The fourth crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers resisted the hijackers.
Beyond those killed on the day of the attacks, more than 9,400 additional people have died from illnesses caused by the attacks, according to data from a US federal government programme set up to provide medical care to those affected.
Today, about 100 million US citizens were either not yet born at the time of the attacks or were too young to remember them.
Logan Miller, 32, lost his uncle in the attacks. His grandfather later died from a 9/11-related illness.
He told AFP: “It’s hard for the next generation to really imagine what happened and how deeply its effects can run in a person’s life. So I actually find myself seeing them ask more questions.”
Large crowds are expected to gather in Lower Manhattan for the memorial event.
As part of security measures, the Secret Service has stepped up security around the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said an anti-drone unit will be deployed as a precaution, but added that there is no specific intelligence of a threat to the event.
Meanwhile, al-Qaeda released a video marking the 9/11 anniversary featuring images of its late leader Osama bin Laden and his son Hamza. Trump claimed in 2019 that Hamza had also been killed.
Before the memorial ceremony began, a special display of 2,977 lighted drones was held over New York Harbor, with one light lit for each person killed in the attacks.