New York held a solemn ceremony on Friday to mark 25 years since the 11 September 2001 attacks, but the memorial sparked controversy as President Donald Trump stayed away and critics targeted the city’s first Muslim mayor.
Trump chose to pay his respects at the Pentagon instead of attending the event in New York, where hijacked planes destroyed the World Trade Center and killed most of the 2 977 people who died that day.
Vice President JD Vance and four former presidents gathered at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. Republican George W. Bush, who led the country during the attacks, joined Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at the memorial site.
No speeches, just names
The ceremony started just after 8:40am and followed a tradition of remaining apolitical, with no speeches planned. Family members of those who died read out each victim’s name, while a bell tolled to mark key moments of the attack.
“Memorials like this and discussions about those events are an important part of keeping it alive and understanding how we prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again,” said Robert Kafka (60s), a visitor from Chicago.
Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani stood alongside the former presidents despite a campaign urging him to skip the event. The right-wing New York Post and former mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Trump ally, led the effort against Mamdani.
A petition gathered more than 100 000 signatures accusing Mamdani of associating with people who are “dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies.”
“It’s concerning to me that the mayor is being treated differently simply because he is Muslim,” city council member Shahana Hanif told CNN.
ALSO READ: WATCH: NYC remembers 9/11 amid political turmoil as mayoral race divides city
Toxic dust revelations
Mamdani recently won praise for releasing thousands of documents showing what city officials knew about dangerous air pollution in Lower Manhattan after the attacks.
The initial dust cloud from the collapsed World Trade Center led to months of pollution and lingering dust, causing cancers that thousands of New Yorkers still suffer from today.
The attacks and aftermath
Nineteen al-Qaeda operatives hijacked four planes on the clear autumn day in 2001. Two jets hit the Twin Towers, causing the 110-storey buildings to collapse.
A third plane struck the Pentagon, while a fourth crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back. Investigators believe the hijackers aimed to hit Congress or the White House.
Beyond those killed on September 11, more than 9 400 other people have died from 9/11-related illnesses, according to the federal programme providing medical care to those affected.
Logan Miller (32) lost his uncle during the attacks and his grandfather to 9/11-related illness afterwards.
“I think the next generation just can’t fathom what actually transpired and how someone could be impacted by that, and so I actually find them asking more questions,” he said.
About 100 million Americans were born after the attacks or are too young to remember that day.
The Secret Service set up a security ring around the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. City police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said an anti-drone team would deploy as a precaution, but stressed officials had no intelligence about a specific threat.
Al-Qaeda marked the anniversary by releasing a video showing images of late leader Osama bin Laden and his son Hamza, who Trump said in 2019 had also been killed.
Before the memorial, a drone show with 2 977 lights rose above New York Harbor, one for each person killed in the attacks.
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