The message from a group of 9/11 families to Mayor Zohran Mamdani could not have been clearer.
Stay away.
Family members, first responders and elected officials gathered outside City Hall on Tuesday to deliver a petition with more than 101,000 signatures urging Mamdani not to attend Friday’s 25th anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero.
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“This mayor is not serving us,” said Charles Wolf, whose wife was killed on Sept. 11. “We are asking respectfully that he not show up.”
Wolf said the annual ceremony is not a political event, but a private day of mourning for families forced to relive the trauma of the attacks.
“Mayor Mamdani, please do not come,” he said.
A 9/11 widower made a direct plea to Mayor Mamdani: Do not come to the memorial ceremony.
Charles Wolf’s wife, Katherine, was killed when the first plane struck her office in the North Tower.
WOLF: “We had politicians that were by our side helping us, inviting us into their… pic.twitter.com/DihEFgV4fn
— Overton (@overton_news) September 8, 2026
Councilwoman Vickie Paladino was less diplomatic.
“I am demanding that he not show his face at that sacred ground,” she said. “He does not belong there.”
Paladino: I’m not asking politely for the mayor not to come to 9/11 ceremony. I am demanding he not show his face at that sacred ground. He does not belong there. We, the people, do not care for Zohran Mamdami pic.twitter.com/Lj7IqSsB26
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 8, 2026
Organizers then moved to formally deliver the petition to the mayor’s office.
Giovanni Galante, whose wife Grace was killed in the attacks, said the goal is to keep the anniversary from becoming a political spectacle.
“We really want us to be left alone,” Galante said. “This 25th anniversary is for victims and survivors to blend in and pray that day for all the families — not have a circus around us.”
Monica Iken, who lost her husband Michael, made the same appeal.
“If we feel that we don’t want someone at our world-class memorial museum that’s sacred and hallowed, we feel that that person should respect our wishes,” she said.
Monica Iken-Murphy lost her husband, Michael Iken, in the 9/11 attacks. She does not want Mayor Mamdani at the memorial ceremony.
IKEN-MURPHY: “I lost my beloved Michael Patrick on September 11. His birthday is actually today. He would have been 62.”
“It is a blessing that we… pic.twitter.com/ntfagjPJC4
— Overton (@overton_news) September 8, 2026
Mamdani, however, has said he intends to attend the ceremony and has framed his participation as an effort to honor the victims, first responders and their families. He also recently designated Sept. 11 as an annual Day of Remembrance and Service in New York City.
That has not persuaded the families leading this push.
For them, the 25th anniversary belongs to the people who lost someone that morning.
And they are asking the mayor to give them the space to mourn.
9/11 victim families deliver petition to Mamdani at City Hall asking him to stay away from memorial ceremonies: ‘Disrespectful’ https://t.co/4JkTfc3GDV pic.twitter.com/LrYCV6Vq5H
— New York Post (@nypost) September 8, 2026
