The police made it as difficult as they could, the weather was threatening, and the media as oppositional and/or indifferent as always, but still freedom lovers came to the 9/11 Freedom Rally from all over the U.S., Canada, Israel and Europe. Lower Manhattan was a police state, with roadblocks everywhere and police demanding passes of anyone and everyone. I had a hard time getting through to get to my own event, even though I was one of the two organizers and hosts. I nearly had the signs for the podium, which you can see in some of the pictures below, confiscated by one zealous gendarme.
The great Hindu activist Narain Kataria wrote this to me:
My 15 friends complained to me (each one separately) that Police did not allow them to come to our gathering and they went home.
I am sure some of your people also must have been prevented from joining us.
Do you think there was a plan/instruction to discourage people from attending our gathering.
I was surprised when one black cop came to me and my friends and asked: are you in the right place. In fact, he wanted us to go to the pro-mosque group.
But still they came, and they and other freedom lovers heard numerous inspiring defenders of human rights.
We started with Christian, Hindu, and Sikh clergy, praying for all the victims of the jihad and Islamic supremacism that threaten us all. (We had a rabbi scheduled also but apparently he, like so many others, couldn’t make it through the police mazes.) Then came the speakers, from jihad flashpoints the world over, representing a huge spectrum of the defense of freedom, human rights and human dignity.
Rosaleen Tallon (right) is the sister of hero firefighter and reservist in the United States Marine Corps, Sean Tallon. Their mother Eileen is at left. Sally Regenhard (center) is the mother of hero firefighter Christian Regenhard, killed in the 9/11 attacks. She is an American activist who has become one of the leading voices for the families of the victims of the September 11 attacks.
These photos are all courtesy Jihad Watch reader David, who I had the pleasure of meeting at the rally Saturday. Pamela Geller has more photos, and links to still more, here. Pamela Hall also has excellent coverage, here.