1,000 March in Favor of Mosque

After a memorial ceremony in which relatives of the victims of the September 11th attacks tearfully recited loved ones’ names, activists for and against the proposed Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan rallied around the building site. Around 1,000 people gathered outside City Hall before marching to an area around ground zero, chanting "Hey hey, ho ho, racism has got to go.” A smaller crowd of several hundred people set up nearby, chanting "USA, USA" and "No mosque here." The rallies have been peaceful, with occasional exchanges between pro-mosque marchers and anti-mosque passers-by. Vice President Joe Biden spoke at the World Trade Center ceremony, while Michelle Obama and Laura Bush spoke in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at a ceremony for victims of the plane that crashed there. President Obama spoke at the Pentagon, where he alluded to the mosque controversy, saying “As Americans, we will not or ever be at war with Islam.”