The controversy around the proposal to build a mosque close to Ground Zero has caused a deep rift within those most directly affected – New Yorkers – with a new poll showing that two-thirds want the planned centre moved further away from the site of the 9/11 attacks.

The poll, conducted by the New York Times among 892 adults across the city, records that 67% want to see the Muslim community centre built in a less controversial location.

Under the current plans, the $100m (£65m) project for the 13-storey multifaith centre would be built in Park Place, just north of the World Trade Centre, where almost 3,000 people lost their lives when al-Qaida brought down the Twin Towers.

The remaining third of those New Yorkers sampled felt that to move the centre would be to compromise American values.

The findings of the poll suggest that the intense dispute surrounding the planned mosque, which has seen national politicians as well as Christian and other religious groups wade into the controversy, has had an impact on the city that has up to now prided itself on retaining its traditional tolerance even in the face of the terrorist threat.

The proposed mosque, the brainchild of the moderate Islam group the Cordoba Initiative, has had a strong backer in the mayor of the city, Michael Bloomberg.

The survey suggests that among some New Yorkers there is a residue of anti-Muslim feeling. A fifth said openly that they feel animosity towards Muslims, and a third that they thought Muslims more sympathetic to terrorism than other subsections of US society.   »»» The Guardian (U.K.)

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