Muslim leaders boycott NY mayor event

NEW YORK: A group of Muslim leaders on Friday boycotted an annual interreligious event held by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to protest alleged police spying on members of their community.

Some 350 members of different religions, including some Muslims, met at an interreligious breakfast that Bloomberg hosted at a room in the New York Public Library.

However a group of around 15 Muslims who were invited to the event refused to go, and instead denounced what they said is police spying on their community since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

"During times when a community's rights are being flagrantly violated its leaders cannot in good conscience appear at a public gathering with the government official who is ultimately responsible and smile for the cameras," read a letter the group sent to the mayor.

The group denounced the "very disturbing revelations" in media reports detailing how the city police have been "monitoring and profiling virtually every layer of NYC Muslim public life, often with no suspicion of wrongdoing."

City police "monitored and collected information on New Yorkers at about 250 mosques, schools, and businesses throughout the city, simply because of their religion and not because they exhibited suspicious behavior," the letter read, citing media reports.

Letter signers included Imam Al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid with the Islamic Leadership Council of New York; Ahmed Jamil with the Muslim American Society; and Aisha al-Adawiya with the group Women in Islam. (AFP)