Metro

Mosque site a tourist mecca

Welcome to Manhattan’s new tourism hot spot — the proposed mosque and Islamic center near Ground Zero.

Visitors from around the country — and the globe — are flocking to 51 Park Place to take pictures of the former Burlington Coat Factory building and to weigh in on the raging debate on whether a mosque should be erected just two blocks from the World Trade Center.

Philadelphia surgeon Robert Fry, 62, and his wife, Susan, stopped at the site after seeing the progress of construction at Ground Zero.

The couple was incensed that a mosque would be located so close to what is considered sacred ground for Americans.

“It was an insult to our country what their religion did,” Robert Fry said, referring to the 9/11 hijackers. “And out of respect to what was done to our country and the people [killed] in those buildings, the mosque should be put someplace else.”

His wife said: “I understand both sides of the issue. But this is blatantly in our face.”

Others said America should practice what it preaches about religious liberty and allow the mosque to open there.

Amy Sajardo, 18, of Salt Lake City, Utah, said “the controversy of the mosque” drew her to Park Place yesterday.

“Most faiths bring communities together. This is a community center. Every religion has a right to practice in the US,” she said.

Her friend Taylor Barnard 18, chimed in, “This is a non-issue. You can’t even really see Ground Zero from here. Many of the people who died on 9/11 were Muslims who care just as much about the country as anyone else.”

Jack Dee, 61, a Buffalo lawyer who stopped by for a look yesterday, said developers of the property “have the right” to build a house of worship there — but it’s the wrong thing to do.

“This was chosen — I think — as a site to provoke controversy and it’s disrespectful to the memory of the people who died just a stone’s throw from here,” he said.

“People have a right to practice their faith. But this is in bad faith,” Dee added.

At the site, tourists from Holland told The Post the same religious tensions have surfaced in their homeland — and they don’t like it.

“You Americans are always saying, ‘We are a free country.’ Show you are a free country,” said Ilona Jemmeke, a travel booker who was joined by her husband, Henry, and daughter, Iris, 17.

Marguerite Pettit, 25, of Sydney, Australia, snapped pictures of the old factory building.

“I don’t see what the fuss is about. Yes, it was Muslims [who attacked the Twin Towers]. But it was Muslims using religion as a mask to do what they wanted to do. It has nothing to do with moderate Muslims,” she said.

Pettit said downtown could be a terror target again for being considered “anti-Muslim” — if opponents kill the mosque project.

“This may be the best place of all. It would show the rest of the world that New York doesn’t hold a grudge against all Muslims because of what a few did,” she said.

At the site yesterday, passions sometimes ran high. A few supporters and opponents of the mosque debated the issue right in front of the building.

A biker passing by who saw a man carrying a placard reading “Support Freedom of Religion” yelled out, “We can’t go to Mecca. Why should they be able to come here?”

carl.campanile@nypost.com