Add The New York Post on Google Grief-stricken loved ones of 9/11 victims — who want Mayor Zohran Mamdani barred from attending the 25th memorial ceremony at Ground Zero — plan to ignore the “spiteful” socialist if he shows up.
More than 98,000 people have signed a petition to ban Mamdani from appearing at the solemn annual ceremony — and the petition will be hand-delivered to City Hall on Sept. 8
The mayor’s divisive past remarks and associations with notorious anti-American figures who have defended terrorists and minimized the worst terrorist attack in US history have made families uncomfortable and outraged with the prospect of his attendance.
With the heartbreaking anniversary of the 2,977 murders quickly approaching, relatives of 9/11 victims told The Post they’ll give Mamdani the cold shoulder if they spot him at the ceremony.
“He’ll show up to be spiteful,” said Angie Pesce, whose 34-year-old brother, Danny Pesce, was one of the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees killed in the attack on the North Tower.
Maureen Santora, 81, whose 23-year-old son Christopher, a firefighter with Engine 54, was killed in the South Tower, agreed that Mamdani isn’t welcome. Most of the people she has spoken with expect him to attend anyway, despite calls for him to let families mourn in peace.
“I just hope that he doesn’t say a single word because most of us will be very upset,” the Queens mother said.
Jeanette Puccio-Pick, 34, who was only 9 when her father Joseph Pick, the vice president of Fiduciary Trust International, perished on the 94th Floor of the South Tower, said the strongest act of protest against the mayor is silence.
“If the mayor shows up, that’s his prerogative. I’m there to honor my father,” she asserted.
“I don’t really want any politicians there, [unless they’re] there in a civilian capacity. But with politicians, it’s always a photo-op. The day is stressful enough.”
The petition’s organizer, Giovanni Galante, whose 29-year-old wife Grace was killed in the attack, previously said that he expects attendees to turn their back on Mamdani if he comes.
“No one’s going to be there saying, ‘You can’t come in.’ No one’s going to be arguing with him,” he emphasized Thursday.
“I know he likes to come in your face and try to say hello and shake your hand, but I would definitely ignore him.”
In a final action to send the message to Mamdani that he isn’t welcome at the event, Galante and Queens Republican Councilwoman Joann Ariola are hosting a press conference on the steps of City Hall on Sept. 8.
They plan to hand deliver the petition to the mayor.
Ariola argued that Mamdani’s personal associations and political moves speak for themselves. She said the executive orders he signed Friday — designating Sept. 11 as a day of remembrance and creating a “Never Forget” task force — as empty gestures.
“This is all too late, and I believe that it’s all just talk and there is no action because he is continuing to have Ramzi Kassem as his chief counsel. He does not denounce Hasan Piker. He will not denounce Globalize the Intifada and BDS — boycott, divestment and sanctions,” she said.
City Hall referred The Post to Mamdani’s July statement: “I will proudly honor the families, the survivors, the first responders forever impacted by that horrific terror attack by standing alongside them at this year’s 9/11 commemoration, reaffirming that we will never forget the solemn day felt by all of us who call this city home and, frankly, by all of us who call this country home.”
