[Al Arabiya Latest] Several hundred supporters and opponents of plans to build a mosque near the site of the September 11, 2001 attacks staged peaceful rival protests Sunday, some brandishing signs against Islam and others denouncing religious bigotry.
Though small in scale, the street protests reflect a national debate that has exposed a raw nerve over U.S. attitudes toward Islam nearly nine years after al-Qaeda militants flew hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center, killing nearly 3,000 people.
Protesters from one side and the other began gathering in lower Manhattan under a fine rain at 10:00 am (14:00 GMT), taking up positions about 100 meters and two streets away from each other, but also worlds apart.
"Don't let Islam mark a victory with a Mosque," said a banner raised by protesters who gathered at the corner of the site of the proposed Islamic center, two blocks from "Ground Zero," the epicenter of the September 11 attacks.
A group of about 50 bikers in leather jackets roared in carrying the emblem of the New York Fire Department, many of whose members were killed during a doomed attempt to rescue people trapped inside the burning towers.
Joe O'Shay, a lawyer who wore a T-shirt covered with slogans against the mosque, tearfully said he had turned out to protest because "I am a New Yorker and I lost a nephew here." 
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