Commission will allow building currently occupying site to be knocked down
The proposal to build an Islamic centre near the World Trade Center site in New York City has cleared another hurdle. The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to remove the 1850s building that currently occupies the site from a potential list of protected buildings, allowing it to be knocked down to make way for a new development. Supporters of the Islamic centre, which will include a mosque, a sports facility and a theatre, say it will build bridges between Muslims and non-Muslims. Protestors say it’s wrong to allow a mosque so close to the site where 3,000 Americans were killed by Muslim terrorists on September 11, 2001. “Islam builds mosques at the sites of their conquests,” read one sign at a recent protest against the plan. New York City’s Republican Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, supports the plan. Many other Republicans, including former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, however, are fighting it.