A solemn ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks was held at Ground Zero in New York on Friday, with Vice President J D Vance, all four living former US presidents, former first ladies, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, officials, law enforcement personnel, firefighters, families of victims and other mourners in attendance.
At the annual commemoration at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in Lower Manhattan, the names of those killed in the attacks were read aloud. Seven moments of silence were observed and bells tolled at the exact times marking the crashes into the North and South Towers and the Pentagon, the collapse of the towers, the moment passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 fought back against the hijackers before the plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and those who later died from health effects linked to the attacks.
The ceremony took place at the site where the twin towers of the World Trade Centre once stood before planes hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists crashed into them on September 11, 2001. Among those present were Bill and Hillary Clinton, George and Laura Bush, Barack and Michelle Obama, and Joe and Jill Biden. Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, opened the 25th year commemoration by paying tribute to more than 300 members of the city’s fire department who risked their lives while responding to the burning towers and saving countless others.
In a video message, Mamdani described September 11 as a “horrific act of terror and a day of immeasurable loss”. “We remember 9/11 as the darkest day in our city’s history, but we also remember what so many New Yorkers did in that darkness,” he said. He recalled how thousands of New Yorkers queued for hours to donate blood after the attacks, how people opened their homes to those who could not get back, and how “workers who carried their colleagues down hundreds of stairs, then turned around and went back up to find someone else who needed help”. Mamdani added that, 25 years later, “We have a sacred obligation to those who were stolen from us to care for one another as they cared for strangers, to live lives worthy of the sacrifices they made, and to build a city worthy of their courage-a city where we run toward one another. That is how we remember.”
In the days before the anniversary, various groups had called on Mamdani not to attend the memorial service. Several relatives of those killed in the attacks launched an online petition expressing “concern” over his possible inclusion in the 25th-year commemorative events. “This anniversary is one of remembrance grounded in shared American values: respect for the victims, recognition of the gravity of the attacks, and a clear rejection of the ideologies that contributed to such violence. For many families and community members, participation in these ceremonies carries an implicit expectation that those present uphold and affirm these principles without ambiguity,” the petition said. It added: “Concerns have been raised about Mr Mamdani’s public positions, associations, and responses to rhetoric that many perceive as hostile to these shared values.”
The ceremony at Ground Zero combined remembrance of those killed in the attacks and their aftermath with tributes to the people who responded that day, as political leaders, victims’ families and mourners gathered to mark 25 years since 9/11.
With PTI Inputs
– Ends
Source link
[ad_3]
