New Yorkers protest outside Empire State Building for Mother Teresa snub on 100th birth anniversary

New York, Aug 27 (ANI): New Yorkers staged a protest outside Empire State Building over a decision not to honour Mother Teresa on her 100th birth anniversary.

Demonstrators led by the Catholic League protested against the building owner's decision to deny a request to change the colours of its lights to blue and white in honour of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning nun.

The building's owner, Anthony Malkin, however, cited a policy of not illuminating the edifice for religious figures, for the denial.

Meanwhile, Empire State Building leaders have supported their decision saying, "rules are rules".

They claimed that they have the tradition of lightings for religious holidays, and do not accommodate requests for religious figures, religions or religious organizations.

Earlier, demonstrators prepared to shut down 34th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues, where the main entrance to the building is located, the New York Post reports.

Nevertheless, many remembered the Nobel Peace Prize recipient in the city. In Astoria, Queens, the faithful lit candles in her honour.

On Thursday, schoolchildren, tourists and volunteers crowded at Mother Teresa's grave in the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity, the order of nuns she founded in 1950 in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta.

In a message read out at the Mass, Pope Benedict XIV described Mother Teresa as an "inestimable gift" and said, "this year will be for the church and the world an occasion of joyful gratitude to God." (ANI)