Tensions surround 9/11 memorial on 11th anniversary
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Visitors to the National Sept 11 Memorial and Museum look at one of two reflecting pools at the World Trade Center, Thursday, Sept 6, 2012 in New York. Tensions over how to pay proper respect to the dead are overshadowing New York's memorial at Ground Zero as a gap widens between survivors and the general, more forgetful public 11 years after 9/11.-- PHOTO: AP
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One World Trade Center, (centre), rises above the National Sept 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center, Thursday, Sept 6, 2012 in New York. -- PHOTO: AP
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Karen Eckert, (left), of Williamsville, New York, talks with Scott Maurer of Moore, South Carolina, as they look over the National Sept 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center on Thursday, Sept 6, 2012 in New York. -- PHOTO: AP
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Members of the Sept 11th Education Trust meet in a restaurant overlooking the National Sept 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center on Thursday, Sept 6, 2012 in New York. -- PHOTO: AP
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The reflective pool at The National Sept 11 Memorial Museum is viewed on Sept 7, 2012 in New York City. As New York City and the country prepare for the 11th anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, work proceeds at the former site of the World Trade Center Towers. -- PHOTO: AFP
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The reflective pool at The National Sept 11 Memorial Museum is viewed on Sept 7, 2012 in New York City. -- PHOTO: AFP
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People are viewed walking at the National Sept 11 Memorial Museum on Sept 7, 2012 in New York City. -- PHOTO: AFP
Visitors to the National Sept 11 Memorial and Museum look at one of two reflecting pools at the World Trade Center, Thursday, Sept 6, 2012 in New York. Tensions over how to pay proper respect to the dead are overshadowing New York's memorial at Ground Zero as a gap widens between survivors and the general, more forgetful public 11 years after 9/11.-- PHOTO: AP
One World Trade Center, (centre), rises above the National Sept 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center, Thursday, Sept 6, 2012 in New York. -- PHOTO: AP
Karen Eckert, (left), of Williamsville, New York, talks with Scott Maurer of Moore, South Carolina, as they look over the National Sept 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center on Thursday, Sept 6, 2012 in New York. -- PHOTO: AP
Members of the Sept 11th Education Trust meet in a restaurant overlooking the National Sept 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center on Thursday, Sept 6, 2012 in New York. -- PHOTO: AP
The reflective pool at The National Sept 11 Memorial Museum is viewed on Sept 7, 2012 in New York City. As New York City and the country prepare for the 11th anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, work proceeds at the former site of the World Trade Center Towers. -- PHOTO: AFP
The reflective pool at The National Sept 11 Memorial Museum is viewed on Sept 7, 2012 in New York City. -- PHOTO: AFP
People are viewed walking at the National Sept 11 Memorial Museum on Sept 7, 2012 in New York City. -- PHOTO: AFP
NEW YORK (AFP) - Tensions over how to pay proper respect to the dead are overshadowing New York's memorial at Ground Zero as a gap widens between survivors and the general, more forgetful public 11 years after 9/11.
Just days before the latest annual remembrance of the cataclysm that saw hijacked airliners flown into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, the once overwhelming sense of national solidarity appears to have faded.
At the sombre site, which only opened last year to mark the spot where over 2,600 people were killed on September 11, 2001 out of a total of nearly 3,000 dead, police, private security guards and volunteer guides are enforcing strict rules on decorum.
The measures are aimed at curbing what some relatives of victims see as rising disrespect, ranging from picnics under the newly planted oak trees to an incident in June when visiting high school students threw trash into one of the black pools marking the footprints of the fallen towers.
