国际英语新闻：S.California remembers 9/11 attacks anniversary with vigils, prayers, services

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Various government agencies, religious and civilian organizations across Southern California held a number of vigils, prayers and services on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Two vigils were held in Los Angeles, one by the Islamic Center of Southern California, and the other by various groups demanding religious freedom.

At the annual event held at the Islamic Center of Southern California, participants vowed to defend American values of religious freedom and equal rights for all.

The event drew religious leaders from Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist faiths as a reflection of America itself, said Mariam Rasheed, one of the event's organizers.

"I hope we can use the memory of 9/11 and remain steadfast against those who have lost sight of our religious freedoms that were so fundamental to our nation's founders and are core to our nation's future," Rasheed said.

On display in the lobby of the center was an enormous handmade quilt with the names of the nearly 3,000 people who perished on 9/11, which was sewn by three local women for the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

"I'm sure that with your efforts, we can defeat those forces that tend to divide us," Rifat Masood, the Pakistan consul general, said at the event.

Speakers also condemned a Florida pastor who threatened to burn a Quran on the day. Pastor Terry Jones, the man behind the Quran-burning stunt, said he has decided to cancel the act.

Officials from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the Los Angeles Police Department, and the local Field Office of the FBI shared their commitment to defend the country and its founding principles.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and hundreds of volunteers participated in two service projects in South Los Angeles -- a community clean-up, mural painting and plaque dedication at the Stanford-Avalon Farm and the completion of the garden at Gompers Middle School.

"Firefighters, police officers, first responders went into the face of danger without regard to their own safety -- gave their lives so that they could save the life of another," Villaraigosa told the volunteers.

Pepperdine University held a brief prayer service at the Heroes Garden, an outdoor garden honoring victims of the attacks.

The university displayed one flag for each of the 2,749 people who died during the attack.

"I've walked myself among these flags and seen other people from a few feet away with tears just streaming down their faces," university spokesman Jerry Derloshon said. "The attacks 9/11/2001 will be burned in our memory forever."

The Beverly Hills City Council hosted a Day of Remembrance at the Beverly Hills Fire Department headquarters, featuring remarks from Senator Fran Pavley and Assemblyman Mike Feuer. The council also broke ground on a memorial that will include a piece of steel from the World Trade Center towers.

A fire station of the Los Angeles Fire Department in northwestern Los Angeles hosted its annual Sept. 11 candlelight vigil and remembrance ceremony for fallen firefighters.

The fire station -- the home of Task Force I, an elite squad of Urban Search and Rescue teams that deployed to Ground Zero -- has an exterior 9/11 memorial, which includes a plaque and a steel girder from the World Trade Center.

In Santa Monica, 20-minute remembrance ceremonies were held at fire stations on Seventh Street, Hollister Avenue, 19th Street and Ashland Avenue.

The Long Beach fire and police departments held a ceremony to remember those who lost their lives.