New York is marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, with thousands expected to gather at the World Trade Center memorial site to honour the 2,977 people killed.
US President Donald Trump is not attending the ceremony in lower Manhattan. He is instead expected to pay his respects at the Pentagon, one of the sites targeted in the attacks.
Vice-President JD Vance and former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are expected at Ground Zero.
The ceremony will feature family members reading the names of those killed, while bells will mark key moments during the attacks. No speeches are planned.
“Memorials like this and discussions about those events are an important part of keeping it alive and understanding how we prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again,” said Robert Kafka, a visitor to the 9/11 Memorial.
Mamdani attendance sparks controversy
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, is also attending the ceremony despite opposition from some right-wing figures.
A campaign led by the New York Post and former mayor Rudy Giuliani called for Mamdani to stay away.
A petition opposing his attendance has attracted more than 100,000 signatures, alleging that he has associated with people who are “dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies”.
City council member Shahana Hanif criticised the campaign.
“It’s concerning to me that the mayor is being treated differently simply because he is Muslim,” she told CNN.
Mamdani has also received praise after releasing thousands of documents concerning what city officials knew about toxic air around Lower Manhattan following the attacks.
“People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” he said.
More than 9,400 people have died from illnesses linked to the attacks, according to the federal programme providing medical care to those affected.
Remembering the attacks
On September 11, 2001, 19 al-Qaeda operatives hijacked four planes.
Two aircraft crashed into the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, bringing down the iconic buildings. A third struck the Pentagon, while a fourth crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back against the hijackers.
Twenty-five years later, a large number of Americans are too young to remember the attacks.
Logan Miller, 32, who lost an uncle in the attacks and later lost his grandfather to a related illness, said younger people were increasingly asking questions about what happened.
“I think the next generation just can’t fathom what actually transpired and how someone could be impacted by that,” he said.
Security has been tightened around the memorial, with the Secret Service establishing a security perimeter. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said anti-drone teams would also be deployed, although there was no specific threat to the event.
Ahead of the anniversary, a drone display featuring 2,977 lights was held over New York Harbor, with each light representing a person killed in the attacks.
