Joe Biden leads the act of commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Twin Towers attacks

Twenty years after the Twin Towers attacks, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, as well as former Presidents Barak Obama and Bill Clinton participate in the ceremony in memory of the 2,977 victims of the attacks perpetrated in New York.

The event, which began at the exact moment when the first plane struck one of the towers, took place in person and benefited from the participation of local authorities and family members.

After singing the verses of the United States’ national anthem, the tribute continued with a request for a minute of silence in remembrance of the victims.

President Joe Biden is due to visit the three memorials in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, but will not deliver speeches at those locations, but a video will be released later.

In a statement, the former president Obama Saturday urged all Americans to “Remember the courage and selflessness of those who were lost in the attacks.”

“One thing that became clear on September 11, and has been clear ever since, is that America has always been the homeland of heroes who are in danger of doing what is right, ”stressed Obama.

Further, the former president stressed: “We reaffirm our commitment to maintain sacred trust with their families, including children who have lost their parents and who have shown extraordinary resilience.”

“September 11th reminded us of how so many Americans are giving of themselves in an extraordinary way, not just in times of great crisis, but every day. Let us never forget this and never take it for granted “, emphasized Obama.

In a video released this Friday on the eve of the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001, Joe Biden called for American unity.

“For me, this is the main lesson of September 11. At the time of greatest vulnerability, (…) unity is our greatest strength», Declared the North American president in his message of 6 minutes recorded at the White House.

Meanwhile, the US president stressed: “Unity does not mean that we all have to believe in the same thing, but it is essential that we respect each other and trust each other.”

20 years after the attack

On September 11, 2001, in less than two hours, the World Trade Center towers were reduced to a mountain of dust and glowing steel, the Pentagon was destroyed, and nearly 3,000 people lost their lives.

Two planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York City and a third crashed into the Pentagon near Washington DC.

A fourth plane may have been targeting the Capitol, the seat of Congress, or the White House, but after the intervention of its passengers it crashed in a rural area of ​​Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

With information from AFP

LGP