CULVER CITY, Calif. - Activists hanged an effigy of Osama Bin Laden across the street from a Southern California mosque Sunday to protest radical Islam on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
With a crowd of about 100 people shouting "Remember 9-11!" and "No more Jihad!" two men on the back of a pickup truck slipped a noose around the neck of a dummy wearing a Bin Laden mask and strung it up, while the crowd pelted the effigy with shoes.
The protest was organized by the United American Committee, a group that says it promotes awareness of internal threats facing America.
About 70 counter-protesters described the King Fahd Mosque as a peaceful center for area Muslims and yelled "racists go home!" during the ritual. A group of clergy joined hands with some of the mosque's worshippers and stood in a circle in front of the mosque.
"I think it's crazy," said mosque spokesman Usman Madha. "We have never encouraged extremism. We were the first mosque that condemned the Sept.11 atrocities and we kicked out a few people that protested that condemnation."
The United American Committee claimed the mosque supports radical Islam. A report from the Sept. 11 commission said investigators believed two of the hijackers had visited the mosque after arriving in the United States in 2000.
"We are here in love, we are here for the Muslim people," said Peter James, a member of the United American Committee who was dressed in a black bathrobe to resemble an executioner. "We want to give you some free PR. This is a chance to distance yourself from terror."
There were several heated exchanges as protesters crossed the street to confront one another, but no violence and no arrests, Culver City police said.
In 2003, Jewish Defense League activist Earl Krugel pleaded guilty to conspiring to bomb the mosque along with the office of San Diego congressman Darrell Issa. Krugel was killed in prison last year.