There’s nothing like a visit from the leader of an Axis of Evil nation to get New Yorkers shouting mad.
The controversy over Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York showed no signs of flagging yesterday, as activist groups organized protests and everyday citizens continued to voice their disgust.
Rallies large and small are planned next week to coincide with the terrorist-supporting president’s visit to Columbia University Monday and the United Nations Tuesday.
“On Yom Kippur we atone for our sins. [Columbia President] Lee Bollinger has something to atone for tonight, letting a monster speak to our young people,” said Joan Siegel, 54, a nurse who lives outside Columbia’s gates at 110th Street and Broadway.
Like many students and neighborhood residents, she was aghast that a man who is seeking nukes, advocating the destruction of Israel and supporting terrorists in Iraq would be welcome.
“I really don’t know what President Bollinger was thinking to give him a bully pulpit to discuss his detestable creed,” said Ari Gardner, 22, a member of the Jewish club Hillel, who was posting fliers around campus to announce a protest Monday.
Mayor Bloomberg said the city is prepared.
“We will provide security every place we think it is necessary. That’s our job, and we will do that,” he said on his weekly radio show, adding that he doesn’t want to meet Ahmadinejad and probably never will.
Both the NYPD and Secret Service will provide around-the-clock security for Ahmadinejad and his entourage.
With Ahmadinejad’s plan to lay a wreath at Ground Zero seemingly aborted, attention is now focused on his speech to Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Officials at the school said despite the claim that giving him a platform to speak may legitimize his bloodthirsty views to the rest of the world, they will not rescind their welcome.
Officials said planning for the visit began in late August. Bollinger said he will challenge Ahmadinejad’s statements ranging from denying the Holocaust to advocating the destruction of Israel to supporting terrorism in his introduction.
Meanwhile, a pro-military group calls Ahmadinejad a “terrorist” in a new ad out Monday and blasts Columbia for allowing him to speak on campus while barring ROTC.
“People who support killing Americans are welcome. But the military that defends them is not,” says the new ad by Freedom’s Watch.
The full-page ad, slated to run Monday in The New York Times, says Ahmadinejad “should be treated like the terrorist that he is” and “Columbia should be ashamed of its actions.”
cbennett@nypost.com
Don’t be shy, New York.
Even if you can’t get into Columbia University’s Q&A with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday, you can still ask him a question via e-mail.
The firebrand head of state will feel the heat of up to an hour of questions posed directly by academics, students and anyone else with a burning issue during his appearance at the university’s School of Public Affairs.
Anyone can submit a question to worldleaders@columbia.edu with the subject line “Question for the President of Iran.”