NEW YORK, 11 September 2026 (Ghufran): New York commemorated the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on Friday with a solemn ceremony at Ground Zero, amid controversy over President Donald Trump’s absence and criticism from right-wing groups over the attendance of the city’s first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani. Trump paid his respects at the Pentagon instead of attending the New York ceremony, where hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center and most of the 2,977 people killed that day lost their lives. Vice President JD Vance and Trump’s four living predecessors — George W. Bush, Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton — gathered at the memorial site in Lower Manhattan. The ceremony, which began shortly after 8:40am local time, was deliberately kept apolitical and featured no speeches, while bereaved family members read the names of those killed and bells were tolled to mark key moments of the attacks. Nineteen Al-Qaeda operatives hijacked four passenger planes that day, crashing two into the Twin Towers, one into the Pentagon and a fourth into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers attempted to regain control of the aircraft.
The attacks triggered years of US military involvement in the Middle East and intense debate over Washington’s foreign policy and human rights record. Mamdani, New York’s first Muslim mayor, attended the ceremony despite a campaign urging him to stay away, led by right-wing critics including the New York Post and former mayor Rudy Giuliani. A petition with more than 100,000 signatures accused Mamdani of associating with individuals allegedly dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies, while city council member Shahana Hanif said it was concerning that the mayor was being treated differently because he is Muslim. Mamdani has also received praise for recently releasing thousands of documents concerning what city officials knew about toxic air conditions in Lower Manhattan following the attacks. The collapse of the World Trade Center created a massive dust cloud followed by months of pollution, with exposure linked to cancers and other illnesses affecting thousands of people. According to the federal health programme established for those affected by the attacks, more than 9,400 people have died from 9/11-related illnesses. As large crowds gathered in Lower Manhattan, the Secret Service maintained a heightened security presence around the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, while New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said an anti-drone team would be deployed as a precaution, stressing that authorities had no intelligence indicating a specific threat.