By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER MANHATTAN — The opponents of a proposed mosque near Ground Zero are not done protesting yet.
Just hours after Sunday afternoon’s massive demonstration in Zuccotti Park, the anti-mosque organizers said they would continue fighting plans to build a 13-story mosque and community center, called Cordoba House, two blocks north of the World Trade Center site.
“This is just the beginning,” wrote Pamela Geller, executive director of Stop Islamization of America, which organized the protest.
Geller wrote on her blog that the planned site of the Cordoba House, the former Burlington Coat Factory building on Park Place, should be landmarked as a “war memorial.” The historic building was heavily damaged on 9/11 when landing gear from one of the jets crashed through the roof.
Geller and others said they would sue the city and federal government to landmark the building.
“We will protest again in September and stage sit-ins in front of the mosque should they try to break ground,” she wrote. “Three thousand good and decent Americans did not die in vain.”
The city Landmarks Preservation Commission considered landmarking the 152-year-old Burlington building back in 1989 but never made a final decision. The commission could hold a hearing as soon as July to either landmark the building or remove it from consideration.
Sunday’s demonstration drew hundreds of people from around the country to Zuccotti Park, a private plaza across from the World Trade Center site that is owned by Brookfield Properties.
Brookfield initially approved the event but revoked Stop Islamization of America’s permit a week and a half ago once it became clear that the group was planning a political protest.
In response, Geller agreed to limit the protest to the public sidewalk around Zuccotti Park, and the NYPD set up barriers accordingly. But the crowd quickly overflowed the designated areas and poured into Zuccotti Park anyway.
Geller said the protesters had a First Amendment right to be there.
The NYPD and Brookfield did not respond to requests for comment.
The protesters brandished signs with anti-Muslim messages, and the crowd grew angry at times.
According to NorthJersey.com, demonstrators surrounded two Egyptian men speaking Arabic and, assuming they were Muslim, screamed insults at them. The men were actually Christian and had traveled from California to protest the mosque, they said.
But the other protesters were unconvinced, and NYPD reportedly had to shepherd the Egyptians to safety.
