President told to stay away as the world remembers the victims of 9/11
Joe Biden has yet to reveal how he will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the attack on the Twin Towers as the world joins America in remembering the victims.
The president, who endured heavy criticism over how the US withdrew from Afghanistan in recent weeks, has been urged not to join the anniversary events by some families demanding more information about Saudi Arabia’s links to the terrorist plot.
More than 1,800 people affected by the atrocity have asked the president not to attend any of the ceremonies unless he orders the release of documents allegedly linking the Saudi government and al Qaida.
Events will be held across the United States to mark the anniversary.
The most important is at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, at the World Trade Center in New York, where, the names of victims will be read out by family members.
During the ceremony, there will be six moments of silence, to mark when each of the towers was struck, when they fell and the attacks on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93.
At the moment of the first silence, at 8.46am, bells will be rung at places of worship across the US.
The 2,983 names include not just the men, women, and children killed in the 9/11 attacks but also those who died in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
In New York’s Tribute In Light, two giant blue beams will reach up to four miles into the sky and are comprised of 88 7,000-watt xenon light bulbs positioned into two 48-ft squares, echoing the shape and orientation of the Twin Towers.
On Friday evening a special event will be held at the Flight 93 National Memorial – at the field near the town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania where the forth hijacked airliner crashed as passengers bravely fought back.
Forty luminara candle lanterns will be lit and carried by family members, guests, and Friends of Flight members and placed below the names of each of the passengers and crew members, dramatically illuminating the Wall of Names.
The following morning at 10.03am – the moment the flight crashed – the names of the passengers and crew members will be read.