Mayor Bloomberg said that he has no intention of calling off tomorrow's 22nd Annual United American Muslim Day Parade, despite a barrage of calls, emails, and letters asking him to do just that. Opponents of the parade, which will run down Madison Ave. from 41st St. to 27th St., say that it is a threat to national security and an insult considering that it is only two days before the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Bloomberg stressed that it would be a "terrible mistake" to implicate a whole group of people for the acts of a few and that Muslims were a vital part of New York. Organizers of the parade said that the protestors were more likely to swell the attendance of the parade as anti-parade sentiments were unifying Muslims around the region.
One of the websites that is protesting the parade and wants the city to revoke its permit is Americans Against Hate. It's leader, Joe Kaufman, says that the parade's organizers are Islamist radicals and that security for the parade should be beefed up due to the extreme threat they pose. Kaufman, who lives in Coral Springs, FL according to amNewYork, will be holding a protest rally a block from the end of Sunday's parade at Madison and 26th St.
