September 11, 25 years later: commemorations for the victims

25 years have passed since the attack on the Twin Towers on 11 September 2001 in New York. Like every year, many people came to the memorial to remember the victims of the attack.

Former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama attended the memorial service for the victims of the attack next to each other. Also with them was Obama's wife, Michelle.

Among the first to arrive at Ground Zero was Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York who shook hands with Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of the Big Apple. Also present at the ceremony was Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik, the former director of Cantor Fitzgerald, the company that lost 658 employees in the attack on the Twin Towers.

Rudy Giuliani arrived in a wheelchair. In recent days, the former mayor had urged Mamdani not to participate in the ceremony because he is Muslim.

Some families of the victims had also asked that the first Muslim mayor of New York not participate in the celebrations and had launched a petition in recent weeks in this regard.

Also in New York are Vice President JD Vance and former Presidents Joe Biden and George W. Bush.

Also present were former New York mayor Bill De Blasio and former New York state governor Andrew Cuomo. Also in the front row were the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer.

The representative for the state of New York in the House, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, also arrived at Ground Zero.

At Ground Zero there is also the fire brigade with some members in tears as they remember the victims who lost their lives during rescue activities following the attack.

After 25 years, we still remember the deaths caused by the attacks of four planes that were hijacked by Al Qaeda terrorists to strike the United States. Two crashed within minutes of each other on the Twin Towers, one fell on the Pentagon while the fourth crashed in Pennsylvania.

From the stage set up for the reading of the names of 9/11 at Ground Zero, a family member of the victims attacked Saudi Arabia and asked politicians to "side with the survivors, with the Americans" and not cover up and continue working with Riyadh. Thanking Vice President JD Vance for being there, she urged him to take his message to President Donald Trump. His words were greeted with applause.