Families of 9/11 victims hand-delivered a petition with over 100,000 signatures to City Hall on Tuesday to demand that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stay away from the upcoming 25th-anniversary commemoration at the World Trade Center site. The families held a press conference on the steps of City Hall.
The petition was launched on change.org on July 9 by 9/11 widower Giovanni Galante, whose wife Grace was murdered in the attacks. He began the petition out of concern over the mayor’s public positions, rhetoric, and associations.
Galante addressed the gathering on Tuesday, saying: “The main purpose is just that we don’t believe in what he believes in, and we really want to be left alone.”
He added, “This 25th anniversary is for our victims and us survivors to blend in and pray [on] that day for all the families, not have a circus around us.”
Monica Iken, whose husband Michael was murdered in the towers, also spoke at the podium, noting, “If the families really feel that we don’t want someone at our world-class memorial museum that’s sacred and hallowed, we feel that that person should respect our wishes.”
It's about Mamdani's policies, not religion
Iken further said, “It’s nothing against the mayor - it’s just against the fact that we feel he wasn’t even here. He was 10, he wasn’t in this country, and I think he should really respect us.”
Cheri Sparacio, whose husband Tom was killed in the South Tower, emphasized the core objections of the petition: “Our petition is not about Mayor Mamdani’s religion or where he came from; it is strictly about the policies that he has today.”
Elected officials and organizational leaders also joined the families at City Hall. City Council Member Joanne Areola criticized the administration’s recent actions, noting that the mayor “does not care about 9/11 or the tragedies that took place because he surrounds himself with people who believe that America deserved what it got.”
'I am demanding that he not show his face at that sacred ground'
City Council Member Vicky Paladino took an even stronger stance: “I am not asking politely for the mayor not to come to that ceremony. I am asking, I am demanding that he not show his face at that sacred ground.”
The press conference followed remarks made by Mamdani to ABC News on Monday, during which he affirmed his intention to be present at the solemn observances. When speaking about his plans for the anniversary, Mamdani said he wanted this week to be a “focus on the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror on September 11 - and a focus also on the first responders, everything they did for the city, and to the people who came together to try and help their fellow New Yorkers.”
The mayor added, “And so, in the days to come, my focus will be on attending events that memorialize that incredible courage, and I will be there on Friday at the memorial just as I was last year.”