Sept. 11 Victims' Families Protest Reconstruction at WTC Site

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, September 04, 2003

Sept. 11 Victims' Families Protest Reconstruction at WTC Site

Families of the Sept. 11 terror attack rallied at the site of World Trade Center (WTC) on Wednesday to protest construction they say will violate the footprints of the twin towers.

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Families of the Sept. 11 terror attack rallied at the site of World Trade Center (WTC) on Wednesday to protest construction they say will violate the footprints of the twin towers.

A group of protestors had planned to block trucks from entering the site as an act of civil disobedience. But the demonstration was made public ahead of time, and a heavy contingent of police officers locked the gate to the entrance and directed family members behind barricades.

The family members argued that the footprints were hollowed ground and accused New York state governor George Pataki of reneging on an earlier promise not to build anything on them.

"People say they don't want a cemetery in their backyard," said Monica Gabriel, who lost her husband. "I think we have to put our value on life and death, the sanctity of it, and not economic factors that are pushing this development forward."

The protestors want the bedrock of the twin towers, seven stories below street level, to remain untouched, but current plans call for a memorial that only goes three stories down, with unspecified construction underneath. They also oppose buildings slated to house museums that would cross into space above ground that was once occupied by the towers.

Another group is planning a similar rally at the site next Wednesday, a day before the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

But the protests do not represent a consensus among victims' families, officials said. Other relatives have met with the governor and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the agency responsible for the reconstruction of the site and support the construction plans, officials said.

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