<p>Though small in scale, the street protests reflect a national debate that has exposed a raw nerve over US attitudes toward Islam nearly nine years after al-Qaeda militants flew hijacked airliners into the World Trade Centre, killing nearly 3,000 people.<br />Protesters from one side and the other began gathering in lower Manhattan under a fine rain at 10:00 am (local time), taking up positions about 100 meters and two streets away from each other, but also worlds apart.<br /><br />"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 centre, two blocks from "Ground Zero," the epicentre of the September 11 attacks.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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."<br />Protesters waved American flags as Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" blared from loudspeakers.<br /><br />Organisers distributed signs with the inscription "Sharia" in bloodlike red letters.<br />"You can build a Mosque at Ground Zero when we can build a Synagogue in Mecca," said another placard.<br /><br />Two streets away, a small crowd about the same size called for tolerance, their signs defending freedom of religion and pleading for acceptance of immigrants of all faiths.<br />Their signs said "Down with religious bigotry," "Bigotry is UnAmerican" and "Repudiate Islamophobia!"</p>
<p>Though small in scale, the street protests reflect a national debate that has exposed a raw nerve over US attitudes toward Islam nearly nine years after al-Qaeda militants flew hijacked airliners into the World Trade Centre, killing nearly 3,000 people.<br />Protesters from one side and the other began gathering in lower Manhattan under a fine rain at 10:00 am (local time), taking up positions about 100 meters and two streets away from each other, but also worlds apart.<br /><br />"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 centre, two blocks from "Ground Zero," the epicentre of the September 11 attacks.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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."<br />Protesters waved American flags as Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" blared from loudspeakers.<br /><br />Organisers distributed signs with the inscription "Sharia" in bloodlike red letters.<br />"You can build a Mosque at Ground Zero when we can build a Synagogue in Mecca," said another placard.<br /><br />Two streets away, a small crowd about the same size called for tolerance, their signs defending freedom of religion and pleading for acceptance of immigrants of all faiths.<br />Their signs said "Down with religious bigotry," "Bigotry is UnAmerican" and "Repudiate Islamophobia!"</p>