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2010/18: should a Muslim community and prayer centre be built near the site of the World Trade Centre?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right:
TOP: a US Public Broadcasting Service / PBS clip featuring an interview with New York politicians, one of whom is a Muslim mayor of Teaneck, New Jersey. This interview turns into a passionate debate, illustrating the strongly held points of view held by Americans on the subject of the "Ground Zero Mosque".
If you cannot see this clip, it will be because video is blocked by your network. To view the clip, access from home or from a public library, or from another network which allows viewing of video clips.
What they said...
'Any decent American, Muslim or otherwise, wouldn't dream of such an insult. It's a stab in the eye of America'
Pamela Geller, director of Stop the Islamisation of America
'We want to create a platform by which the voices of the mainstream and silent majority of Muslims will be amplified'
Daisy Khan, director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement
The issue at a glance
A proposal to build a 13-storey Islamic community and prayer centre two city blocks from the site of the World Trade Centre in New York have provoked controversy.
Muslim organisations selected the site of a former Burlington Coat Factory shop damaged in the September 11, 2001, attacks. The building at 45 Park Place has been vacant since it was hit by the fuselage of one of the jets flown into the World Trade Centre by Islamic terrorists.
Daisy Khan, director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, which is behind the project has said has said that the purpose of the centre is to spread harmony and amplify the voice of moderate Islam in the United States.
On May 5, 2010, the financial district committee of New York Community Board 1, representing local residents, supported the proposed Islamic centre.
A group called Stop the Islamicisation has led opposition to the project which is now being widely criticised as insensitive and inappropriate.
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