Exclusive | More 9/11 families urge defiant Mamdani to stay home for 25th memorial ceremony: Here are their stories

The movement to ban Mayor Zohran Mamdani from this year’s 9/11 memorial ceremony at Ground Zero — marking the 25th anniversary of New York City’s darkest day — is mounting.In less than three weeks, more than 62,000 people have signed the Change.org petition demanding Hizzoner skip the solemn event.The mayor’s past remarks and associations with people openly hostile to the U.S.or scornful of the worst terror attack in American history has made his planned attendance a lightning rod for criticism, but he’s so far brushed off the growing chorus and pledges to be there.The petition lists many reasons for wanting to exclude Mamdani, including his long reluctance to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” and his associations with individuals like his chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, who previously represented an al-Qaeda tanker-bombing pilot.“This anniversary is one of remembrance grounded in shared American values: respect for the victims, recognition of the gravity of the attacks, and a clear rejection of the ideologies that contributed to such violence,” the petition reads.The Post first reported on the skyrocketing number of signatories last weekend.
Organizer Giovanni Galante this week estimated that thousands of family members of the 2,977 innocents killed on Sept.11, 2001, have signed on.If Mamdani shows up at the ceremony, he should expect many 9/11 family members to turn their backs on him in protest, warned Galante, whose 29-year-old wife Grace was killed in the attack.“They don’t want to look at him,” he said.“A lot of people are signing,” said Angie Pesce of Staten Island, whose 34-year-old brother, Danny, was one of 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees who lost their lives in the Twin Towers.
“And it’s not only the family – it’s friends of family, too..
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It’s getting circulated and growing every day.”Charles G.Wolf, whose 40-year-old wife Katherine Wolf was killed only two weeks into her job at Marsh & McLenna...