Libyan strongman Moammar Khadafy has decided to bunk at his country’s mission in New York for his visit next week amid an uproar over a planned stay at the tony Pierre hotel, The Post has learned.
On the same day as a Post report that the Helmsley Hotel had canceled a banquet at which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was slated to speak, law-enforcement sources said preparations were underway for Khadafy to stay at the Libyan Mission to the United Nations, on East 48th Street.
Khadafy has had a tough time finding a place to park his camel. His attempt to pitch an air-conditioned tent in Central Park and then on a Libyan Mission-owned lawn in Englewood, NJ, were scuttled.
Khadafy had been widely reported to have booked rooms at the swank Pierre on Fifth Avenue, where officials yesterday vehemently denied he would be staying.
But guests there said they were informed this week by hotel staffers that he might be checking in as soon as yesterday.
The Pierre guests were outraged at the notion of roaming the halls with Khadafy, who created another international uproar recently by hugging the freshly released terrorist behind the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland.
“I’m leaving. It makes me feel uncomfortable. He is a terrorist,” said Bony Sarfati, 42, of Paris, adding that hotel workers had told her to expect him to be checking in yesterday.
“Forgiveness may be a nice gesture, but he’s still a terrorist, so I feel very uncomfortable being here,” she said.
And Sacha Taylor, 33, from Atlanta, chimed in, “It’s outrageous. How can they let this happen? I’ll definitely be staying at another hotel next time.”
About a mile away, at the Intercontinental The Barclay Hotel on East 48th Street, guests were equally riled to hear that Holocaust-denying Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly was hanging his hat there for his New York visit.
“I’m very upset,” said a guest who asked not to be identified. “I don’t like it, but what can I do?”
Both hotels are owned by foreign parent companies — the Taj Hotels owns The Pierre, and the Intercontinental Hotel Group owns the East 48th Street property — but they are publicly traded companies and have major shareholders, including Fidelity Investments and arms of JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.
Officials from all three shareholders did not respond to requests for comment. Taj officials also didn’t respond.
An official with Tata Sons, one of the major shareholders of Taj — which is based in India — also wouldn’t comment, and officials with London-based Intercontinental Hotel Group said they would not discuss whether Ahmadinejad was staying there.
Meanwhile, officials at Gotham Hall said they’d canceled another planned Ahmadinejad speech and event slated for Sept. 25.