Steve Ayling, a 40-year-old plumber from Brooklyn told they should put it in the Middle East. He said that the people behind the mosque project were "the same people who took down the twin towers. But Dr Ali Akram, a 39-year-old doctor also from Brooklyn, said that scores of Muslims died in the twin towers. He quoted that opponents of the centre were un-American. They teach their children about the freedom of religion in America - but they don't practice what they preach. The plan by a New York developer to build the centre and mosque about two blocks from the former World Trade Center site has been attacked by prominent Republican politicians and conservative pundits. President Barack Obama has come under fire over his defence of the developer's right to build a mosque a few blocks from Ground Zero.