‘Most Of Us Will Be Very Upset’: Many 9/11 Families Not Too Thrilled About Mamdani Attendance At Memorial Ceremony

Relatives of Sept. 11 victims say they will turn away from Mayor Zohran Mamdani if he attends this year’s memorial at Ground Zero.

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More than 98,000 people have signed a petition asking organizers to keep the democratic socialist away from the 25th anniversary ceremony, the New York Post reported. Backers plan to carry it to City Hall on Sept. 8. The 2001 attacks killed 2,977 people, among them 658 employees of Cantor Fitzgerald.

Mamdani has said he intends to show up and honor the dead, which is what troubles the families. Maureen Santora, 81, whose firefighter son Christopher died at 23 with Engine 54 in the South Tower, wants him to keep quiet. “I just hope that he doesn’t say a single word because most of us will be very upset,” she said. (RELATED: Mamdani Apparently Snubbed In Awkward Scene After Not Being Called To Give Speech At Fallen Soldier’s Funeral)

Others see silence as their form of protest. Angie Pesce, whose brother Danny was killed in the North Tower, said “he’ll show up to be spiteful.” Petition organizer Giovanni Galante, whose wife Grace died in the attacks, put it plainly. “I would definitely ignore him,” he said. Jeanette Puccio-Pick, who lost her father on the 94th floor of the South Tower, said her focus stays on him, not the mayor.

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The pushback extends beyond the ceremony. Galante and Queens Republican Councilwoman Joann Ariola will hold a press conference at City Hall on Sept. 8. Ariola dismissed the mayor’s recent executive orders on remembrance as hollow, citing his retention of chief counsel Ramzi Kassem and his refusal to disavow figures such as Hasan Piker. Retired Port Authority police also weighed in, with association president John McDevitt sending letters on Aug. 14 urging Mamdani to stay home, according to Fox News.

Not every family agrees. Elizabeth Miller, whose father died in the attacks, defended the mayor’s place at the ceremony in remarks to CBS New York, and her group, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, condemned what it called Islamophobic attacks on him.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum keeps the event free of politics, and attending officials give no remarks, according to Fox News.

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