More than 1,000 people turned out Sunday to protest an Islamic community center and mosque planned near Ground Zero.
Waving U.S. flags and signs that said, “No 9/11 Mega Mosque,” the crowd condemned the proposal to put the Islamic center near the site where nearly 3,000 people died when Islamic terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center.
The proposed 13-story Cordoba House will be opened in a former Burlington Coat Factory on Park Place – two blocks from Ground Zero. It would include classrooms, a fitness center and a mosque.
The project’s boosters say it would be similar to the 92nd St. Y and point out that it has the backing of the local community board and many politicians in lower Manhattan.
But the proposed mosque has also drawn criticism, including a blast from a Tea Party bigwig who said it would serve as a tribute to the 9/11 terrorists “for the worship of the terrorists’ monkey-god.”
