New York Marks 25th Anniversary of September 11 Attacks Without Trump, Muslim Mayor Controversy

• New York held a solemn ceremony at Ground Zero to mark 25 years since the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed 2,977 people
• President Donald Trump skipped the New York ceremony, while Vice President JD Vance and four former presidents attended
• Mayor Zohran Mamdani, New York's first Muslim mayor, faced a 100,000-signature petition urging him to stay away from the memorial

New York City on Friday marked 25 years since the September 11, 2001 attacks, with a ceremony at the World Trade Centre site drawing four former US presidents but not Donald Trump, while the attendance of the city's first Muslim mayor sparked a bitter political dispute.

Trump chose to observe the anniversary at the Pentagon rather than Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, where two hijacked aircraft destroyed the Twin Towers and where the majority of the 2,977 people killed that day lost their lives.

Vice President JD Vance joined former presidents George W. Bush, Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at the memorial site.

No speeches, only names

The Standard, the ceremony followed a format with no speeches. Bereaved family members read out the names of every person killed, while a bell rang to mark key moments from the attacks. A drone display the previous evening placed 2,977 lights above New York Harbour, one for each victim.

Beyond those who died on the day itself, more than 9,400 additional people have since died from illnesses linked to the attacks, according to the federal programme set up to support those affected. Months of toxic dust and pollution following the collapse of the Twin Towers caused cancers from which thousands of New Yorkers still suffer.

Mamdani's presence draws backlash

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat who became the city's first Muslim mayor, attended the ceremony despite a campaign led by the right-wing New York Post and former mayor Rudy Giuliani calling on him to stay away. A petition demanding his absence gathered more than 100,000 signatures, accusing Mamdani of associating with unnamed individuals considered "dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies."

City council member Shahana Hanif pushed back on the pressure campaign. "It's concerning to me that the mayor is being treated differently simply because he is Muslim," she told CNN.

Mamdani had drawn praise earlier in the week after his administration released thousands of previously withheld documents showing what city officials knew about air quality in lower Manhattan after the attacks. "People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air," he said on Tuesday.

Al-Qaeda hijacked four planes on September 11, 2001. Two struck the Twin Towers, one hit the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back against the hijackers. About 100 million Americans were either not yet born or too young to remember the attacks.

Logan Miller, 32, whose uncle died in the attacks and whose grandfather later died from a 9/11-related illness, reflected on how younger generations are processing the tragedy. "I think the next generation just can't fathom what actually transpired and how someone could be impacted by that, and so I actually find them asking more questions," he told AFP.

Security was tight across lower Manhattan, with the Secret Service establishing a protective perimeter around the memorial site and police deploying an anti-drone team as a precaution, though authorities said there was no intelligence pointing to a specific threat.