July 20, 2007

Sixth annual 9/11 ceremony moving to Zuccotti Park

Due to construction at the World Trade Center site, the 2007 memorial ceremony for September 11 will be moved to Zuccotti Park, the plaza located diagonally across the street from the southeast corner of Ground Zero, map.

As a result, a boycott is being threatened by some family members of those killed in the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001, according to the Daily News. They want it to remain on the World Trade Center site.

In past years, only family members were allowed into the fenced Ground Zero site for the memorial ceremony while the general public lined sidewalks of nearby streets. During last year's ceremony, Zuccotti Park was the location for a large bell rung during the proceedings. It was also the impromptu home base of protesters who carried signs such as "9-11 was a U.S. Back Op." They could be seen engaging in debate with people gathered for the ceremony, including tourists and firefighters.

At the 2007 ceremony, the names of those killed will be read by first responders, including police, firefighters and emergency technicians who worked the scene in 2001, according to the Associated Press, which also reported the towers of light will return for the night of September 11.

(The Municipal Art Society's website says it has agreed with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to stage Tribute in Light through 2008 from an MTA facility just south of the World Trade Center site.)

The 33,000-square-foot Zuccotti Park, known as Liberty Plaza Park before it reopened in June 2006, is bound by Broadway, Liberty and Cedar streets and Trinity Place. It is home to a statue that became one of the iconic images of Sept. 11. "Double Check," or "Man With a Briefcase," sculpted in bronze by J. Seward Johnson.

Earlier: WTC insurance dispute settled, construction advances
In memory of the fifth anniversary of September 11
Liberty Plaza park reopens across from Trade Center site

July 20, 2007 06:30 AM in Downtown, History, Sightsology

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