The organisers of the scheme to build an Islamic cultural centre close toGround Zero in New York have risked incurring further controversy by applying for a multimillion dollar grant from the federal agency charged with revitalising lower Manhattan in the wake of 9/11.
The board of the project, known as Park51 after its proposed location in Park Place, a couple of blocks away from the site of the 2001 attacks on the twin towers, has asked the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation for a reported $5m (£3.1m) in six separate grant requests.
The group said that it was asking for the money to partly cover a range of services open to all residents of the area, including domestic violence prevention, the teaching of foreign languages including Arabic, a couple of art spaces, as well as services for homeless veterans and immigrants.
The plan to build a Muslim community centre so close to the site of the 2001 tragedy caused a storm of protest in the runup to the midterm elections earlier this month. Detractors dubbed it the "Ground Zero mosque", even though it is not to be designated as a mosque and it is not to be built at Ground Zero. Rightwing zealots and evangelical Christian groups launched a sustained campaign against it.
Prominent figures in New York politics backed the centre, notably the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, who dismissed the furore as a politically-motivated row that would blow over once the midterm elections were over.
His prediction has largely played out, but there continues to be a groundswell of grumbling about the project. Last week the Florida-based pastor who had threatened to burn copies of the Qur'an as a protest against Park51 staged a small rally at the disused coat factory where the community centre would be built.
Last month a prominent Saudi prince, Alwaleed bin Talal, called on the directors of Park51 to move the project to a different location, urging them to "defer to the people of New York. The wound [of 9/11] is still there."
But the drumbeat of anger about the proposals has become much softer since the 2 November elections, and the scheme is no longer in the glare of nationwide public attention. However, the main developer Sharif El-Gamal and the religious figure behind the scheme, imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, continue to face funding difficulties in raising the $140m needed to pay for the 13-storey centre.
No money has yet formally been raised for the project, and its financial viability remains in doubt.
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