New York:
More than a dozen Muslim community leaders boycotted an interfaith
breakfast organized by Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday to
protest reported police surveillance of Muslim areas since the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
In an open letter to Bloomberg, the leaders accused the mayor of
ignoring concerns that the New York Police Department has been
using racial profiling and violating civil rights in its
anti-terrorism surveillance programs.
“We believe with heartfelt conviction that during times when a
community’s rights are being flagrantly violated its leaders
cannot in good conscience appear at a public gathering with the
government official who is ultimately responsible and smile for
the cameras as if all is well, when we know full well that it is
not,” news Agency Reuters reported citing the letter addressed to
the New York mayor.
The letter cited a series of articles earlier this year by The
Associated Press that alleged that police, at times in cooperation
with the CIA, infiltrated New York mosques, Muslim bookshops and
other Islamic businesses and institutions to gather intelligence
without specific evidence of any criminal activity.
The letter was signed by 15 leaders of Muslim organizations based
in New York City who said they were turning down their breakfast
invitation, as well as the leaders of several dozen other faith
organizations and civil rights groups.
The mayor’s office said 368 guests attended Friday’s breakfast, up
from 315 people last year. The office said the guests included
representatives of the Muslim community but did not have a
specific number.
Bloomberg has defended the police department, which denies the
accusations.
“Contrary to such assertions, the NYPD lawfully follows leads in
terrorist-related investigations and does not engage in the kind
of wholesale spying on communities that was falsely alleged,”
police spokesman Paul Browne said in an e-mail.
Linda Sarsour, director of the Arab American Association of New
York, said she and others boycotting the breakfast wanted an
independent investigation into the NYPD’s surveillance methods.
“We’ve received no substantial proof that there has been no
wrongdoing,” she said.
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