Supporters and opponents of the “Ground Zero mosque” clashed as they took to the streets this morning and held dueling rallies near the controversial site.
A group of 150 supporters of the planned mosque and community center gathered at the corner West Broadway and Murray Street in Lower Manhattan and shouted, “Fascists get out!” while waving signs declaring, “Stop the fear and hate.”
Some 500 opponents of the project stood just a block away on the corner of West Broadway and Park Place chanting, “USA!” as they waved signs demanding, “No clubhouse for terrorists.”
Joe Porcelli, 57, a lawyer from Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, who rallied in favor of the mosque, said, “Muslims are a target by racists, and they have a right to build their Islamic center here.
“This is where the congregation is. No one would dream of saying to Archbishop Dolan, ‘Why don’t you move that parish?’” he said, referring to a nearby church.
There was far more invective from opponents, including Debra Burlingame, 56, head of the group 9/11 Families for a Strong America.
“This is not abuse of freedom of religion. … It’s a disgrace,” she said.
“Feisal Abdul Rauf is a soft-spoken, smart talking, warm and fuzzy imam — that’s the way he’d like to be perceived,” she said, referring to the mosque’s leader. “But he is a fraud, and we have the goods on him for all the world to see. We are not going to let him get away. We know who he is, and we’re going to expose him to the American people.”
Bob Brennan, 57, of Jersey City said that one could oppose the mosque and still support the US Constitution.
“Thousands of people died here,” he said. “I believe in freedom of speech and freedom of religion, but just because you have the right to do something doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.”