NEW YORK: Thousands Protest Proposed Mosque At Ground Zero

Led by Atlas Shrugs blogger Pamela Geller, a group called Stop The Islamization Of America staged a giant rally in downtown Manhattan yesterday in protest of the planned 13-story mosque and Islamic welcome center to be built two blocks away from Ground Zero. Gothamist reports:

Michael Simons, 47, a retired Port Authority detective who for a time was buried in the rubble of Tower Two, told Newsday, "It saddens me that they want to build a mega mosque here. We lost people from 70 countries here. Where is the respect for the dead? I am here to give the dead a voice." And Pamela Geller asked the crowd, "Who is paying for this mosque? Did it come from the same blood-tainted hands that supported 9/11?" Another protester, Felicia Chillak from the Conservative Society for Action, told Epoch Times, "I believe building a mosque near ground zero is like building a crematorium near Auschwitz."