Former NY mayor slams Ground Zero Imam for his "threat" speeches

New York, Sept 13 (ANI): Former New York City Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, has accused the Ground Zero imam on 'Meet the Press' for criticising America and indicating that there could be a "very dangerous violence" if the planned Islamic center two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center terror attacks is not built.

"There's the good imam and the bad imam. The good imam is about reconciliation...and then there's the bad imam who said America is an accessory to Sept. 11. America has more Muslim blood on its hands than vice versa. He can't condemn Hamas as a terrorist group," The New York daily News quoted Giuliani, who is opposing the proposed mosque, as saying.

"And he will not be transparent about where he's getting the money, how he's getting the money. ...And now we have the imam who tells us if he doesn't get his way there could be significant and very dangerous violence," he added.

Giuliani stressed that such language carries "a suggestion of a threat."

Meanwhile, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said that he would not have gone ahead with the plan of building a Islamic center near Ground Zero had he been aware that it would lead to communal disharmony in the country.

"I would never have done it. I'm a man of peace. I mean, the whole objective of peace work is not to do something that would provoke controversy. Unfortunately, the discourse hasbeen, to a certain extent, hijacked by the radicals ... on both sides," he added.

A day after raucous clashes between pro- and anti-mosque demonstrators on the ninth anniversary of 9/11, an estimated 1,000 people marched to downtown streets yesterday for a peaceful rally in support of religious freedom. (ANI)