Americans this Sunday honored the memory of nearly 3,000 people killed in the worst attacks in history, on September 11, 2001, that changed “the course of American history”, according to President Joe Biden.
In New York, a crowd gathered near the museum and memorial in Manhattan was silent for two minutes at 8:46 am and 9:03 am local time (9:46 am and 10:03 am GMT), the exact times when two planes hijacked by Islamic commandos collided with the north towers. and south of the World Trade Center, which collapsed in a deluge of steel and dust.
Among the audience, Vice President Kamala Harris heard the long list of victims’ names. President Joe Biden attended another ceremony, at the Pentagon.
“While the pain fades a little over time, my father’s permanent absence is as palpable as ever,” Jon’s son Leslie Albert said after reading the names of several victims, including his father.
Another relative of a victim, in a call to political figures in attendance to heal America’s deep divisions, said “it shouldn’t take another tragedy to unite our nation.”
On September 11, 2001, 2,977 people died in the deadliest attacks in history, committed by the jihadist organization Al Qaeda.
Two planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York, a third hit the Pentagon, and a fourth, which appeared to be targeting the Capitol or the White House, crashed in a wooded area in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, following a passenger riot. .
No one aboard the four hijacked commercial planes survived.
Elizabeth II
Near the capital, Washington, Biden marked the occasion at the Pentagon. With a solemn air and a hand on his heart, he attended a flower-laying ceremony near the Department of Defense headquarters building.
“I know for all those who have lost someone, 21 years is a lifetime and it’s no time at all,” the Democrat said during his speech.
Biden shared a message sent on September 11, 2001 by Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday, to the American people.
“Pain is the price you pay for love”, then wrote the monarch.
“The course of American history changed that day,” the president continued. But what hasn’t changed is “the character of this nation, the sacrifices, the love, the generosity” that the United States is capable of, he said.
“Today is not about the past, but about the future,” Biden continued, urging Americans to stand up for democracy and guaranteeing freedom that terrorists wanted to “bury under fire, smoke and ashes.”
In a tweet hours earlier, the president vowed to “continue to keep alive the memory of the precious lives that were stolen from us” during these attacks 21 years ago.
Jill Biden, First Lady of the United States, attended a morning ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The attack “stirred like all of us,” she said.
“It changed all of us. The attack reminds us that with courage and kindness, we can be a light in the darkness,” she added.
International leaders also paid tribute to the victims of the attacks that marked the world.
“Ukraine, which faces missile attacks daily, knows well what terrorism is and sincerely sympathizes with the American people,” tweeted President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country was invaded by Russia in late February.
On Saturday night, New York was lit up with a “Tribute in Light” showing two blue beams projected into the sky, symbolizing the Twin Towers.
